What do the physical and working properties of a material mean, and where do materials come from?
Physical and working properties of materials and their sources: defining properties such as strength, hardness, toughness, malleability, ductility, elasticity and conductivity, the difference between physical and working properties, and the origins of the main material categories.
A focused answer to Eduqas GCSE Design and Technology (C600) on the physical and working properties of materials and their sources: strength, hardness, toughness, malleability, ductility, elasticity and conductivity, and where the main materials come from.
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What this dot point is asking
Eduqas C600 expects you to know the physical and working properties of materials and where materials come from. You need to define properties such as strength, hardness, toughness, malleability, ductility, elasticity and conductivity, understand the difference between a physical and a working property, and know the sources of the main material categories. In the written exam this is tested by short questions distinguishing properties (hardness versus toughness) and by Explain questions linking a property to how a material is shaped or used.
Physical and working properties
The distinction is useful: physical properties tell you what the material is like (heavy or light, conducts or insulates), while working properties tell you how it will respond when you load, hammer, scratch or stretch it.
A common exam point is that hardness and toughness are different: glass is hard (resists scratching) but not tough (it shatters), while mild steel is tough but can be scratched. Similarly, strength is not the same as hardness.
Where materials come from
- Papers and boards: from cellulose fibres (wood pulp), processed into paper and board; renewable if from managed forests.
- Timbers: from trees (hardwoods and softwoods), and manufactured boards from wood waste; renewable if responsibly managed (FSC).
- Metals: extracted from ores mined from the ground, then smelted and refined; finite and energy-intensive to extract, but highly recyclable.
- Polymers: mostly from crude oil (a finite fossil resource); some bio-polymers from plant starch.
- Textiles: natural fibres from plants (cotton) and animals (wool), synthetic fibres from crude oil.
Try this
Q1. State the property that lets copper be drawn into thin electrical wire. [1 mark]
- Cue. Ductility (the ability to be drawn into a wire).
Q2. Give the source of most polymers. [1 mark]
- Cue. Crude oil (a finite fossil resource).
Exam-style practice questions
Practice questions written in the style of WJEC Eduqas exam questions on this dot point, with worked answer explainers. The year tag is the paper they imitate, not the source.
Eduqas C600 20182 marksExplain the difference between the hardness and the toughness of a material.Show worked answer →
A 2-mark question, one mark for each property correctly defined.
Hardness is a material's resistance to scratching, wear and indentation: a hard material such as hardened steel resists being scratched or dented.
Toughness is a material's ability to absorb impact and resist breaking or cracking: a tough material such as mild steel or polypropylene takes a blow without shattering.
Markers reward both definitions distinguished: hardness resists scratching/wear, toughness resists impact and cracking. A hard material can be brittle (glass is hard but not tough), so the two are different. Defining only one caps the mark at one.
Eduqas C600 20224 marksExplain why malleability and ductility are important properties when shaping metals, with an example of each.Show worked answer →
A 4-mark Explain wants both properties defined and linked to a process with an example.
Malleability is the ability to be permanently deformed by compression (hammering, pressing or rolling) without cracking. It is important because malleable metals such as aluminium can be pressed or hammered into shapes like a car body panel or a saucepan.
Ductility is the ability to be drawn out into a wire or stretched without breaking. It is important because ductile metals such as copper can be drawn into thin electrical wire.
Markers reward both definitions with the matching process and example (malleable, pressed/hammered, panel; ductile, drawn into wire, copper wire). Swapping the two, or giving no example, loses marks.
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Sources & how we know this
- WJEC Eduqas GCSE (9-1) Design and Technology (C600) specification — WJEC Eduqas (2017)