This video distinguishes between renewable and non-renewable energy resources. It examines the question, "How long to do we have before we exhaust non-renewable resources?" It also looks at alternatives to non-renewable energy resources. This video is part of the Sustainability Learning Suites, made possible in part by a grant from the National Science Foundation. See 'Learn more about this resource' for Learning Objectives and Activities.

This subject provides an introduction to the mechanics of materials and structures. You will be introduced to and become familiar with all relevant physical properties and fundamental laws governing the behavior of materials and structures and you will learn how to solve a variety of problems of interest to civil and environmental engineers. While there will be a chance for you to put your mathematical skills obtained in 18.01, 18.02, and eventually 18.03 to use in this subject, the emphasis is on the physical understanding of why a material or structure behaves the way it does in the engineering design of materials and structures.

This resource is a video abstract of a research paper created by Research Square on behalf of its authors. It provides a synopsis that's easy to understand, and can be used to introduce the topics it covers to students, researchers, and the general public. The video's transcript is also provided in full, with a portion provided below for preview:

"What makes rocket engines tough enough to withstand the incredibly high temperatures needed to escape Earth’s atmosphere? A closer look reveals part of the answer. Like tiny brick walls, the boundaries between these microscopic grains help stop the motion of defects that could lead to cracking. Keeping grains small, therefore, helps keep materials like this alloy strong and intact. But under certain conditions, some grains can start to grow--and fast--putting an otherwise durable material, and all it protects, at risk of serious damage. While researchers have generally attributed rapid grain growth to a single, common mechanism, a team from Sandia National Laboratories suggests that not all fast-moving grains are created equally. That insight might force scientists and engineers to rethink how to make metals stronger—and safer. Abnormally fast-growing grains are an important topic in materials research because of the risk they pose to the structural integrity of metal parts..."

The rest of the transcript, along with a link to the research itself, is available on the resource itself.

In this second video in our Accessible Learning Across the Lifespan series, you’ll be introduced to a variety of accessibility features that are built into t...

Through a series of three lessons, each with its own hands-on activity, students are introduced to 1) forces, loads and stress, 2) tensile loads and failure, and 3) torsion on structures—fundamental physics concepts that are critical to understanding the built world. The associated activities engage students through experimenting with hot glue gun sticks to experience tension, compression and torsion; the design of plastic chair webbing strips; and problem-solving to reinforce foam insulation "antenna towers" to withstand specified bending and twisting.

The FOSTER portal is an e-learning platform that brings together the best training resources addressed to those who need to know more about Open Science, or need to develop strategies and skills for implementing Open Science practices in their daily workflows. Here you will find a growing collection of training materials. Many different users - from early-career researchers, to data managers, librarians, research administrators, and graduate schools - can benefit from the portal. In order to meet their needs, the existing materials will be extended from basic to more advanced-level resources. In addition, discipline-specific resources will be created.

In this activity, students are going to practice vocabulary relating to school. Students will play a game using a slideshow to identify objects relating to school using full sentences. At the end of the activity, students will also discuss the subjects they study in school and how they feel about those subjects.

In this video segment adapted from FETCH!, contestants are challenged to use materials from a garbage dump to build a boat that floats, can be steered, and is propelled by something other than oars.

Through three teacher-led demonstrations, students are shown samplers of real-world nanotechnology applications involving ferrofluids, quantum dots and gold nanoparticles. This nanomaterials engineering lesson introduces practical applications for nanotechnology and some scientific principles related to such applications. It provides students with a first-hand understanding of how nanotechnology and nanomaterials really work. Through the interactive demos, their interest is piqued about the odd and intriguing nano-materials behaviors they witness, which engages them to next conduct the three fun associated nanoscale technologies activities. The demos use materials readily available if supplies are handy for the three associated activities.

Students describe the impact of technology on their learning. They share specific examples of accessibility tools and highlight how each has supported their engagement and learning in school in powerful ways. This video is a great tool for highlighting the importance of making sure that instructional materials are accessible to all students. It is easier to ask instructional material providers before adopting curriculum rather than trying to retrofit materials (if that is even possible) after adopting materials.

Pump gas molecules to a box and see what happens as you change the volume, add or remove heat, change gravity, and more. Measure the temperature and pressure, and discover how the properties of the gas vary in relation to each other.

In this video segment adapted from NOVA, watch residents of the Peruvian Andes build a suspension bridge made entirely of grass. The ancient Inca were a textile society and thus skilled in working with natural fibers including alpaca and cotton. Still, it might surprise people today that their solution to crossing the canyons and gorges of their mountainous empire featured another fibrous material: grass. When you consider how they built a simple suspension bridge, you'll realize that not only was this a practical solution, it was also a safe one. In this video segment adapted from NOVA, watch residents of the Peruvian Andes as they build a traditional and functioning grass bridge the likes of which enabled the ancient Inca people to flourish for several hundred years. Grades 3-12.

Students explore heat transfer and energy efficiency using the context of energy efficient houses. They gain a solid understanding of the three types of heat transfer: radiation, convection and conduction, which are explained in detail and related to the real world. They learn about the many ways solar energy is used as a renewable energy source to reduce the emission of greenhouse gasses and operating costs. Students also explore ways in which a device can capitalize on the methods of heat transfer to produce a beneficial result. They are given the tools to calculate the heat transferred between a system and its surroundings.

Students brainstorm and discuss the different types of materials used to build houses in various climates. They build small models of houses and test them in different climates.

In this video segment from PEEP and the Big Wide World, children experiment with cardboard and build a house for their stuffed animals.

This video segment adapted from FETCH! shows contestants experimenting with different materials to see which is the best insulator and thus best able to keep the lemonade at their stand cool for customers.

Engineers create and use new materials, as well as new combinations of existing materials to design innovative new products and technologies—all based upon the chemical and physical properties of given substances. In this activity, students act as materials engineers as they learn about and use chemical and physical properties including tessellated geometric designs and shape to build better smartphone cases. Guided by the steps of the engineering design process, they analyze various materials and substances for their properties, design/test/improve a prototype model, and create a dot plot of their prototype testing results.

This webinar outlines how to use the free Open Science Framework (OSF) as an Electronic Lab Notebook for personal work or private collaborations. Fundamental features we cover include how to record daily activity, how to store images or arbitrary data files, how to invite collaborators, how to view old versions of files, and how to connect all this usage to more complex structures that support the full work of a lab across multiple projects and experiments.

Inorganic chemistry is concerned with the properties and reactivity of all chemical elements. Advanced interests focus on understanding the role of metals in biology and the environment, the design and properties of materials for energy and information technology, fundamental studies on the reactivity of main group and transition elements, and nanotechnology. Synthetic efforts are directed at hydrogen storage materials and thermoelectrics, catalysts for solar hydrogen generation, fullerenes and metal porphyrins, metal clusters and compounds with element-element bonds, as well as nanowires and nanoparticles.

This book provides an introduction to the discipline of aerospace structures and materials. It is the first book to date that includes all relevant aspects of this discipline within a single monologue. These aspects range from materials, manufacturing and processing techniques, to structures, design principles and structural performance, including aspects like durability and safety. With the purpose of introducing students into the basics of the entire discipline, the book presents the subjects broadly and loosely connected, adopting either a formal description or an informal walk around type of presentation. A key lessons conveyed within this book is the interplay between the exact science and engineering topics, like solid material physics and structural analysis, and the soft topics that are not easily captured by equations and formulas. Safety, manufacturability, availability and costing are some of these topics that are presented in this book to explain decisions and design solutions within this discipline.