Materials – Practical Investigation
Learning Objectives
- Know the properties of different materials.
- Know how the properties of each material relate to its uses in the America’s Cup Challenge.
- Explain how the materials are chosen in the design process for their specific properties.
- Describe how external environmental factors (e.g. salt water) will have an impact on materials used.
Lesson Description
This isn’t a materials lesson. This is your students in the design room of an America’s Cup team — examining the real materials used on a race boat, making the same decisions real engineers make, then building and testing their own design under race conditions.
Carbon fibre chosen for its strength-to-weight ratio. Dyneema selected because saltwater won’t destroy it. Aluminium honeycomb because a solid sheet would never leave the dock. Every decision backed by science. Every choice a lesson in engineering thinking.
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1.Video: Materials and their uses
Your students just got a seat in the design team. What makes an America’s Cup yacht the fastest, lightest, most precisely engineered boat ever built? Carbon fibre. Dyneema. Aluminium honeycomb. Every material chosen for a reason. Every decision backed by science. We’re putting students in the role of a race boat engineer. They examine real materials, work out why each one was chosen, then design and test their own buoyancy structure. Whose boat holds the most weight wins.
2.Lesson Presentation :Materials a practical investigation
3.Worksheet 1
4.Worksheet 2: Modern materials
5.Iterative design process
Design & Technology
Physics
Key Stage 3
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