Material
hideMaterial is synonymous with Substance, and is anything made of matter - hydrogen, air and water are all examples of materials. Sometimes the term Material is used more narrowly to refer to substances or components with certain physical properties which are used as inputs to production or manufacturing. In this sense, materials are the pieces required to make something else, from buildings and art to stars and computers.
A material can be anything: a finished product in its own right or an unprocessed raw material. Raw materials are first extracted or harvested from the earth and divided into a form that can be easily transported and stored, then processed to produce semi-finished materials. These can be input into a new cycle of production and finishing processes to create finished materials, ready for distribution, construction, and consumption.
An example of a raw material is cotton, which is harvested from plants, and can then be processed into thread (also considered a raw material), which can then be woven into cloth, a semi-finished material. Cutting and sewing the fabric turns it into a garment, which is a finished material. Steelmaking is another example—raw materials in the form of ore are mined, refined and processed into steel, a semi-finished material. Steel is then used as an input in many other industries to make finished products.
For more information about Material, read the full article at
Wikipedia.
This text uses material from Wikipedia and is available under the GNU Free Documentation License.
News tagged with materials
Living buildings could mop up carbon dioxide
10 hours ago |
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(PhysOrg.com) -- Architecture could help us tackle climate change, if we start to design our buildings with 'living' materials, according to Dr Rachel Armstrong, UCL Bartlett School of Architecture.
Nanowires key to future transistors, electronics
Nov 26, 2009 |
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(PhysOrg.com) -- A new generation of ultrasmall transistors and more powerful computer chips using tiny structures called semiconducting nanowires are closer to reality after a key discovery by researchers ...
Superconductor magnet spacecraft heat shield being developed
Nov 26, 2009 |
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(PhysOrg.com) -- European space agencies and an aerospace giant are developing a new re-entry heat shield that will use superconductor magnets to generate a magnetic field strong enough to deflect the superhot ...
Chemists get custom-designed microscopic particles to self-assemble in liquid crystal
Nov 25, 2009 |
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(PhysOrg.com) -- The scientists anticipate their "LithoParticles" will have significant applications in photonics, optical communications and other areas.
Nanotech in Space: Experiment To Weather the Trials of Orbit
Nanotechnology / Nanomaterials
Nov 24, 2009 |
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Novel nanomaterials developed at Rensselaer were sent into orbit on Nov. 16 aboard Space Shuttle Atlantis.
A Tiny Cage of Gold Responds to Light, Opening to Empty Its Contents
Nanotechnology / Bio & Medicine
Nov 19, 2009 |
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(PhysOrg.com) -- Researchers at Washington University in St. Louis have developed a polymer-coated gold nanocage that not only opens in response to light to release a small amount of a drug payload, but then closes when the ...
Invisibility visualized: German team unveils new software for rendering cloaked objects
Nov 13, 2009 |
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(PhysOrg.com) -- Scientists and curiosity seekers who want to know what a partially or completely cloaked object would look like in real life can now get their wish -- virtually. A team of researchers at the ...
Researchers take the lead out of piezoelectrics
Nov 13, 2009 |
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There is good news for the global effort to reduce the amount of lead in the environment and for the growing array of technologies that rely upon the piezoelectric effect. A lead-free alternative to the current ...
Nanotech in Space: Rensselaer Experiment To Weather the Trials of Orbit
Nanotechnology / Nanomaterials
Nov 12, 2009 |
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(PhysOrg.com) -- Novel nanomaterials developed at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute are scheduled to blast off into orbit on November 16 aboard Space Shuttle Atlantis.
Research helps overcome barrier for organic electronics
Nanotechnology / Nanomaterials
Nov 10, 2009 |
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(PhysOrg.com) -- Electronic devices can't work well unless all of the transistors, or switches, within them allow electrical current to flow easily when they are turned on. A team of engineers has determined ...
Electronic Waste Needs to Go Green
Nov 10, 2009 |
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(PhysOrg.com) -- Americans love their consumer electronics, but what happens to all the gadgets when their useful life is over? Despite being one of the largest generators of "e-waste" in the world, the U.S. has no federal ...
Argonne 'homegrown' hybrid solar cell aims for low-cost power
Nanotechnology / Nanomaterials
Nov 10, 2009 |
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(PhysOrg.com) -- Scientists at the U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) Argonne National Laboratory have refined a technique to manufacture solar cells by creating tubes of semiconducting material and then "growing" ...
Ultra-Long Carbon Nanotubes Could Serve as Future Transmission Lines
Nanotechnology / Nanomaterials
Nov 10, 2009 |
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(PhysOrg.com) -- When it comes to carbon nanotubes, the majority of research so far has focused on small-scale applications. But now, a team of researchers from Rice University has created carbon nanotubes ...
Commercialization of new solar technology to boost solar efficiency
Nov 09, 2009 |
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A pioneer in solar power in the 1990s before it became "sexy," University of Houston Professor Alex Freundlich recently entered into a collaborative research agreement with U.K.-based start-up QuantaSol for the development ...
Look ma, no mercury in fillings!
Nov 09, 2009 |
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Tooth enamel is hardest material in the human body because it's made almost entirely of minerals. As tough as it may be, however, enamel can be broken down by bacteria, forming cavities and eventually destroying the tooth. ...
