Molecular Structure and the Design of Metal Objects

When my students think about mechanical engineering they probably envision car designs, robots, or helicopters: however, the structures engineered by researchers in my summer fellowship are rarely larger than a grain of sand. The rapidly growing field of Nano-scale engineering is changing the world and the future careers for my students. In a reflection of this reality the NGSS identify the core idea HS-PS1.A ( that structure and interactions of matter at the bulk scale are determined by electrical forces within and between atoms). In this lesson students will collect and interpret evidence to construct an explanation of how the relative molecular structure of materials(conductivity of metals) determine their bulk scale characteristics (thermal conductivity). After synthesizing explanations for trends in their data (with reference to molecular structure and bulk properties), students will use the results of their investigation to design a stovetop item (i.e. fryingpan) by selecting materials for each part of the product. (HS-PS2-6)