Material Strength

Purpose

This is an open-ended investigation where students design their own experiments to test the strength of different packaging materials. Students should be encouraged to develop scientific experiments appropriate to their level.

Activity

Students discuss whether strength is a requirement in packaging. Students collect a range of packaging materials to test. Before they start, students determine what their definition of strength is - encourage them to think of the requirements of a packaging material from the brainstrom list of Activity 1: to protect its contents, easy storage, refrigeration and transportation.

Students work out ways to test the strength of different materials. Then they design some experiments to compare different materials. Allow students to experiment freely without the constraints of a set protocol.

WARNING: Do not allow students to use glass as one of their materials - it breaks! Also, be very careful with sharp edges on metal cans.

Discussion

Students give brief reports or demonstrations to the rest of the class, describing their experiments and the results.

What might be the disadvantages of strong materials? Encourage students to consider density as well as ease of crushing/folding for recycling purposes.

For secondary students

Set up properly controlled and replicated scientific experiments where students need to identify and control experimental variables.

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