Reymond L.

Clacio BSEE 3-A

MATERIAL SCIENCE AND ENGINEERING August 28, 2021

  Material is the fundamental of science. It is probably more significant in our culture than
we realize. Transportation, housing and many things in our surroundings are part of a
segment of our daily lives that is influenced by materials. Materials have contributed to the
advancement of a number of technologies such as in medicine, communication, national
security and space, transportation, structural materials, arts and literature, textiles,
agriculture. This inter-disciplinary interaction between the Material sciences and other fields
in the development of new materials and their applications is to be understood well.

Historians have regarded materials as such an important aspect of civilizations such that
entire periods of time have defined by the predominant material used (Stone Age, Bronze
Age, Iron Age). For most of recorded history, control of materials had been through alchemy
or empirical means at best. The study and development of chemistry and physics assisted
the study of materials, and eventually the interdisciplinary study of materials science
emerged from the fusion of these studies. The history of materials science is the study of
how different materials were used and developed through the history of Earth and how those
materials affected the culture of the peoples of the Earth

The use of materials begins in the Stone Age. Typically materials such as bone, fibres,
feathers, shells, animal skin, and clay were used for weapons, tools, jewellery, and shelter. The
earliest tools were in the Palaeolithic age, called Oldowan. These were tools created from chipped
rocks that would be used for scavenging purpose. The use of copper had become very apparent to
civilizations, such as its properties of elasticity and plasticity that allow it to be hammered into useful
shapes, along with its ability to be melted and poured into intricate shapes. Although, the
advantages of copper were many, the material was too soft to find large scale usefulness. Through
experimentation or by chance, additions to copper lead to increased hardness of a new metal alloy,
called bronze. The first tools produced by humans were made from stone. Around 10000 years ago,
humans started making objects from metals, such as gold, silver and copper. However, these metals
are soft and they were mostly used for jewellery, decorative items and pots and pans for cooking,
rather than tools. Around 3000 BCE, it was discovered that adding other elements to copper,
particularly tin, made it much stronger and harder, and therefore suitable for tools. This alloy of
copper and tin is called bronze. Its discovery allowed much stronger and more durable tools to be
produced than had been possible before. Bronze could also be moulded and worked into different
shapes more easily than stone, leading to more sophisticated tools and the first swords. However,
around 1000 B.C. more widespread production of iron-based objects commenced in both Europe
and Asia. Much of this focused on the manufacture of weaponry, (swords, shields, armour etc.) from
steels. Early metallurgists found that very small additions of carbon to iron, combined with heat
treatments, lead to massive increases in strength. Ancient civilizations that learnt to produce strong
steels had a competitive advantage against people using Bronze Age weapons.

Julius Caesar understood the power to be gained through control of mineral wealth and so
expansion of the Roman Empire coincided with known ore deposits in Europe, Asia and North Africa.
When Britain came under Roman control, the ‘Eureka’ moment was the discovery of lead, which was

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then used for roofing, building ornaments, water pipes and coffins. So, through their quest for
metals, the Romans moved Britain from a primitive region into a world power with law, schools,
business, highways and agriculture. Of course, in the end, the lead sent them all crazy and is widely
believed to have “led” to the fall of the Roman Empire. The Industrial Revolution (1760 – 1840 AD)
heralded an unprecedented age of rapid industrial and economic growth that transformed European
society into engineers, scientists, explorers, and even colonialists. These achievements resulted
principally from the use of coke, a carbonaceous material produced from coal, in blast furnace iron
making. Using this multi-functional material significantly lowered production costs and enabled
increase in production volumes. In spite of current environmental concerns regarding carbon
sources, it should be noted that the quality of life and economic prosperity that are prevalent now,
would not have been possible without this key material.

A tiny, postage stamp-sized sliver of material called the Silicon Chip has become the most influential
invention of our time - a perfectly orchestrated collection of imperfect materials that allow it to
behave in many different ways at once. It scans brains, drives trains, flies planes and handles our
most intimate conversations. It is the electronic brain that runs the world. Computers were invented
beforehand, but the silicon microchip is the advancement that made the modern computer era
possible. The ability to create a miniature circuit board out of a semiconductor was what gave
computers vast advancements in speed and accuracy, transforming them from room-sized devices
to machines that could sit on a desk or your lap.

Gold, sodium,
METALS copper and iron

nylon, polyethylene,
Natural Polymers
polyester

POLYMERS
Synthetic silk, wool, DNA,
Polymers cellulose and
MATERIAL proteins.

silicon, germanium,
SEMI- gallium arsenide
CONDUCTOR

clay, bricks, tiles,

CERAMIC glass, and cement

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 For me as electrical engineering student, the material that made a big impact in the
world is metals. Metals are a class of elements characterized by a tendency to give up
electrons and by good thermal and electrical conductivity. At room temperature and normal
atmospheric pressure, metals tend to be solids - except for mercury, which is a liquid. Along
with this, metals are usually ductile, malleable, shiny, and can form alloys with other metals.
Some common metals are iron (important for steel), aluminium, and copper. Metals are
tremendously important to a high energy society: they transport electricity in the electrical
grid, and provide many services. Metal is very essential in our daily life such as in
transportation, communication and etc. And it is one the material that is needed in producing
energy to electricity and we all know that the electrical grid couldn't exist without copper and
steel. In fact all areas of electricity production and distribution require metal,
from turbines used to transform mechanical energy into electricity to the distribution stations
that bring electricity to homes

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