Chapter 11

Materials and Their Properties:

How have computers gotten so much faster?
1. Which of the following does not determine the physical properties of materials? a. constituent atoms b. type of chemical bond c.pH d.shape e.All of the above affect physical properties. Ans: c Linked to: Materials and the Modern World Difficulty Level: Easy

2. Transistors have contributed a lot to the information age through their use as a. integrated circuits. b. microchips. c. switches. d. catalysts. e. semiconductors. Ans: c Linked to: Microchips and the Information Revolution Difficulty Level: Easy

3. Which kind of strength describes a materials ability to withstand twisting? a. compressive b. shear c. brute d. tensile e. flexible Ans: b Linked to: The Strengths of Materials Difficulty Level: Easy

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4. A superconductor can be described as having electrons that a. are bound to individual atoms. b. are free to move randomly around the material, colliding with atoms from time to time. c. combine with matter in a way that changes the material. d. can move freely without losing energy. e. bind together so tightly they do not move. Ans: d Linked to: Electrical Properties of Materials Difficulty Level: Easy

5. Which of the following exists at very low temperatures? a. semiconductor b. superconductor c. insulator d. conductor e. composite materials Ans: b Linked to: Electrical Properties of Materials Difficulty Level: Easy

6. One important characteristic of some semiconducting devices is that they a. are a perfect insulator. b. conduct electricity better than a conductor. c. are highly magnetized. d. occur only at very low temperatures. e. allow electricity to flow in only one direction. Ans: e Linked to: Electrical Properties of Materials Difficulty Level: Easy

7. Doping is a process that adds a. phosphorus ions to the crystalline structure of silicon. b. aluminum ions to the crystalline structure of silicon. c. any minor impurity to an element or compound. d. a positive or negative charge to the lattice of a crystal. e. all of the above

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Ans: e Linked to: Magnetic Properties of Materials Difficulty Level: Easy

8. Moore's Law a. was first applied during the industrial age. b. states that electrons flow from negative to positive poles. c. applies to the ever-increasing information capacity of computers. d. applies to the service charges on cell phones. e. explains the ferromagnetic characteristics of iron. Ans: c Linked to: Microchips and the Information Revolution Difficulty Level: Easy

9. Which phrase describes electrical resistance? a. material through which electrons flow freely b. arrangement of a material's electrons c. potential of a battery with flowing current d. inverse of electrical conduction e. channels for the flow of electrons Ans: d Linked to: Electrical Properties of Materials Difficulty Level: Easy

10. The information in a computer is stored and manipulated by a. transistors. b. bytes. c. service providers. d. doping. e. DVDs. Ans: a Linked to: Electrical Properties of Materials Difficulty Level: Easy

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11. What does the CPU do? a. stores magnetically oriented particles on a disk. b. processes the photographic image of a 35-mm camera c. provides robots for NASA's artificial intelligence department d. creates virtual memory from brain scans e. monitors satellite downloads Ans: a Linked to: Microchips and the Information Revolution Difficulty Level: Easy

12. What is the Turing test? a. a paradox b. a magnetic potential test c. a test for artificial intelligence d. a calculation of information content e. a test for electrical conductivity Ans: c Linked to: Microchips and the Information Revolution Difficulty Level: Easy

13. A silicon semiconductor will transmit electrical current a. by electrons and holes. b. only by electrons. c. only by holes between electrons. d. only if the silicon is doped with phosphorous e. when the material is frozen. Ans: a Linked to: Electrical Properties of Materials Difficulty Level: Easy

14. Integrated circuits contributed most directly to a. photovoltaic cells. b. invention of superconductors. c. the miniaturization of computers. d. the formation of strong composite materials. e. the insulating properties of modern ceramics.

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Ans: c Linked to: Microchips and the Information Revolution Difficulty Level: Easy

15. Strength is the ability of a solid to resist changes in shape. Ans: True Linked to: The Strengths of Materials Difficulty Level: Easy

16. Van der Waals bonds are associated with materials that are among the strongest in the world. Ans: False Linked to: The Strengths of Materials Difficulty Level: Easy

17. Material past its elastic limit can return to its original shape. Ans: False Linked to: The Strengths of Materials Difficulty Level: Easy

18. A semiconductor is neither a good conductor nor a good insulator. Ans: True Linked to: Electrical Properties of Materials Difficulty Level: Easy

19. Commercial semiconductors are often made from silicon with large amounts of another element. Ans: False Linked to: Electrical Properties of Materials Difficulty Level: Easy

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Chapter 11 20. A transistor is made of a layer of p- and n- type semiconductors with wires connected to each separate region. Ans: True Linked to: Microchips and the Information Revolution Difficulty Level: Easy

21. Concrete reinforced with steel rods have compressive as well as tensile strength. Ans: True Linked to: The Strengths of Materials Difficulty Level: Easy

22. Every magnetic field is due to the presence of a moving electrical charge. Ans: True Linked to: Magnetic Properties of Materials Difficulty Level: Easy

23. High temperature superconductors operate at conventional oven temperatures. Ans: False Linked to: Electrical Properties of Materials Difficulty Level: Easy

24. Ionic bonds are stronger than all other bonds or attractions except van der Waals forces. Ans: False Linked to: The Strengths of Materials Difficulty Level: Easy

25. Materials in which only a few electrons are free to move make good electrical insulators. Ans: True Linked to: Electrical Properties of Materials Difficulty Level: Easy

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26. Name at least ten physical properties of materials. What do all these physical properties have in common? Ans: Answers will vary but can include these properties listed in the chapter: color, smell, hardness, luster, flexibility, heat, and capacity, solubility in water, texture, melting point, strength, magnetism. Two things that all these properties have in common are that they are determined by the arrangement of atoms and can be measured in quantitative terms. Linked to: The Strengths of Materials Difficulty Level: Easy

27. Why is a transistor important to the computer industry? Ans: The transistor can be operated as an electron switch to process data in a computer. Linked to: Microchips and the Information Revolution Difficulty Level: Easy

28. What does an amplifier do? Ans: An amplifier takes a small current and converts it into a larger current. Linked to: Microchips and the Information Revolution Difficulty Level: Easy

29. Which material would have the strongest compressive strength? a. egg shell b. ream of copier paper c. pile of dry sand d. rope e. shopping bag Ans: b Linked to: The Strengths of Materials Difficulty Level: Medium

30. Which of the following is a good conductor? a. rubber

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Chapter 11 b. wood c. plastic d. ocean water e. glass Ans: d Linked to: Electrical Properties of Materials Difficulty Level: Medium

31. If you start a current flowing in a superconducting wire that is kept cold, and then remove the power source, the a. current would stop flowing immediately. b. current would continue to flow. c. current would flow through the superconducting wire for about twice as long as it would have through copper wire. d. electrons would move through the wire, losing a great deal of energy. e. superconducting wire would not be able to generate a magnetic field. Ans: b Linked to: Electrical Properties of Materials Difficulty Level: Medium

32.How is a microchip an improvement over a transistor? a. A microchip is much faster than a transistor. b. A microchip can be made from less expensive materials than the silicon diodes in transistors. c. Transistor manufacturing introduces foreign elements such as aluminum and phosphorus into the crystal lattice. d. Transistors require a tremendous amount of heat energy in the manufacturing process. e. A microchip incorporates thousands of transistors in one integrated circuit designed for a specific function. Ans: e Linked to: Microchips and the Information Revolution Difficulty Level: Medium

33. In order for a computer to become more like a human brain, it would need a. to have more interconnections. b. to perform operations only in sequential steps. c. to operate without using electrical signals. d. to have a smaller central processing unit (CPU).

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Chapter 11 e. to have a more reliable source of energy. Ans: a Linked to: Microchips and the Information Revolution Difficulty Level: Medium

34. A nerve cell is to a brain as a what is to a computer? a. cable b. transistor c. monitor d. central processing unit e. modem Ans: b Linked to: Microchips and the Information Revolution Difficulty Level: Medium

35. Which of the following can be communicated by using only a series of yes-or-no questions? a. a digital photograph b. a telephone number c. an entire set of encyclopedia d. how to color a rainbow e. all of the above Ans: e Linked to: Microchips and the Information Revolution Difficulty Level: Medium

36. Which of the following has the least information content? a. a printed page with 500 words b. one second of a telephone conversation c. one color picture on a television screen d. digital 3-D graphic file e. one second of a DVD audio and video recording Ans: b Linked to: Microchips and the Information Revolution Difficulty Level: Medium

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37. A rope has less tensile strength than sheer strength. Ans: False Linked to: The Strengths of Materials Difficulty Level: Medium

38. Ferromagnetism occurs naturally on Earth. Ans: True Linked to: Magnetic Properties of Materials Difficulty Level: Medium

39. The information content in a television picture is equal to much more than the information content in a printed word. Ans: True Linked to: Microchips and the Information Revolution Difficulty Level: Medium

40. The electric path that begins at a power plant and ends at your desk lamp contains only materials that are good conductors of electricity. Ans: False Linked to: Electrical Properties of Materials Difficulty Level: Medium

41. What is the advantage of using composite materials? Give at least one example. Ans: In composite materials the strength of one material can offset the weakness in another, resulting in a new material with attributes exceeding any of the individual components. Examples are plywood, reinforced concrete, tires made of rubber and steel, fiberglass, laminated plastics, and semiconductors. Linked to: The Strengths of Materials Difficulty Level: Medium

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42. What is the difference between a superconductor and a semiconductor? Ans: A superconductor is the property of complete absence of electrical resistance that some materials exhibit, usually when cooled to within a few degrees of absolute zero. A semiconductor will conduct electricity, but not very well. A semiconductor is also not a very good insulator. Linked to: Electrical Properties of Materials Difficulty Level: Medium

43. Describe how a photovoltaic cell works. Ans: A photovoltaic cell is a large semiconductor diode with a thin layer of n-type material overlaying a thick layer of p-type material. When the sun is shining, light strikes the top n-type layer and moves electrons through the n-p boundary, initiating a flow of electrons through a circuit. Therefore, in a photovoltaic cell, solar energy is converted into electrical energy. Linked to: Electrical Properties of Materials Difficulty Level: Medium

44. What components do you think are combined to make the composite material safety glass? Describe the important property each material would add to the composite. Ans: The safety glass is a sandwich of glass and plastics with the glass and plastic turned at different angles to make the entire sheet more elastic. Materials must be transparent and elastic rather than brittle. Linked to: The Strengths of Materials Difficulty Level: Medium

45. How did each of these inventions direct the evolution of the medical field? Discuss two from this list: magnets, transistors, composite materials, superconductors, photoelectric cells, and alloys. Ans: Answers will vary. Examples include magnets for CAT scans; transistors in heart monitors (all electrical circuitsanything with a chip), compositescombine desirable characteristics of materials; superconductors produce particles that can be used for various purposes; photoelectric cells used to show O2 blood levels; alloys are used for non-reactive metals; etc. Linked to: Electrical Properties of Materials Difficulty Level: Medium

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46. Semiconducting diodes are used in solar photovoltaic cells because a.electrons in semiconductors are loosely bound to atoms, and therefore can be easily transmitted as a current. b. these diodes contain dendrites and therefore are able to transmit electricity quickly. c. diodes are made of naturally occurring magnets d. semiconducting diodes are good insulators. e. diodes biodegrade easily. Ans: a Linked to: Electrical Properties of Materials Difficulty Level: Hard

47. Magnets are usually found in all of the following except for a. 1999 Ford Explorer. b. telephones. c. a doorbell. d. water faucets. e. a furnace thermostat. Ans: d Linked to: Magnetic Properties of Materials Difficulty Level: Hard

48. Which of the following statements best describes a characteristic of most composite materials? a. Composite materials are stronger than their components. b. Composite materials have a great amount of tensile strength. c. Composite materials are made from layers of semiconductors. d. The layers of composite materials are held together with van der Waals bonds. e. Composite materials have a great deal of compressive strength. Ans: a Linked to: Electrical Properties of Materials Difficulty Level: Hard 49. What are the future applications of high temperature superconductors? Ans: Within a generation we may see magnetically levitated trains, better electric motors and reduced electric bills from improved energy storage. Linked to: Electrical Properties of Materials

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50. Why do so few materials have magnetic fields? Ans: Each atom has a magnetic field oriented in a random direction; the total magnetic field sum is neutral. A few materials such as iron, cobalt, and nickel metals have atoms that line up within a specific magnetic domain. Only under certain conditions will these domains orient parallel to each other, resulting in an external magnetic field for the material. Linked to: Magnetic Properties of Materials Difficulty Level: Hard

51. Compare the workings of a human brain with the workings of a computer. Ans: The basic unit of the computer, the transistor, is different from the basic unit of the brain, the nerve cell. Each transistor in the computer is connected to a few other transistors; therefore, performing tasks is sequential. The brain, on the other hand, interconnects nerve cells at thousands of projections called dendrites. The signals in these dendrites are integrated. Linked to: Microchips and the Information Revolution Difficulty Level: Hard

52. Why is a diamond stronger than a material such as a plastic shopping bag or talcum powder? Ans: Diamonds possess a large amount of all three kinds of strength (tensile, compression and sheer strength) because they are formed from strong chemical bonds arranged in a threedimensional framework. The other materials mentioned have strong bonds in only one direction or weak bonds. Linked to: The Strengths of Materials Difficulty Level: Hard

53. What might happen to the material in a human body if that materials exceeded its elastic limit? Ans: If the material is bone, it will break; if a tendon, it will tear; if a blood vessel, it will rupture. In each case the material will not return to its original state. Linked to: The Strengths of Materials Difficulty Level: Hard

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54. How has Moore's Law been applied in the last five years?. Ans: Moore's Law predicted that computing power would double every two years because that was the rate at which transistors could be added to microchips (a measure of computing power). This law held constant for decades; however, a lower limit is now being approached on the size of these transistors. Single transistors are now as small as a few thousand atoms in diameter. Linked to: Microchips and the Information Revolution Difficulty Level: Hard

55. If you were a tester in a Turing Test what questions might you ask? How would you determine whether or not something had passed the Turing Test? Ans: Answers will vary; Are you talking to a person or a machineif cant tell the difference then is artificial intelligence. Linked to: Microchips and the Information Revolution Difficulty Level: Hard

56. Describe how the Chinese Room paradox negates the value of a Turning test. Why do you think that a philosopher rather than a mathematician designed the Chinese Room concept? Ans: Answers should describe the paradox. They should also include the idea that there is no real communicationjust following a pattern without making up anything new. The mathematician may feel that decoding patterns, realizing (math) that its formulaic based rather than responsive is a form of communication. Linked to: Microchips and the Information Revolution Difficulty Level:Hard

57. Why do you think computers were invented? What influenced the stages of computer evolution for the past five decades? What do you predict for the computer industry in the year 2050? Ans: Answers will vary but computers make our work easierhandle large amounts of information, etc. Predictions should follow Moores law. Linked to: Microchips and the Information Revolution Difficulty Level: Hard

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58. If you were to design a new material for a fire hose to be used by modern firefighters, what three properties do you think would be most important to include? Explain your answer. Ans: Answers will vary. Examples include elasticity to be able to fluctuate with the amount of water; resistance to heat of the fire; tensile strength so that pulling does not disable the hose. Linked to: The Strengths of Materials Difficulty Level: Hard 59. How has the process of doping been critical to the information revolution? Ans: The flow of electrons must be understood to also be the carriers of information. Linked to: Microchips and the Information Revolution Difficulty Level: Hard

60. In what way is the human body both a conductor and an insulator? Ans: Salts in the systems are conductors. Insulators are the fats for temperature, but they make difference for electricity. Linked to: Electrical Properties of Materials Difficulty Level: Hard

61. What would be the advantage or disadvantage of interfacing directly between organic and silicon entities? Ans: Loading in all language parts and syntax into organic memory but still not knowing how to use that information doesnt translate to speaking the language. Knowledge without connections is useless. Linked to: Microchips and the Information Revolution Difficulty Level: Hard 62. How might natural magnets such as lodestones be formed in nature? Ans: Molten iron has to solidify in the presence of a magnetic field. Linked to: Magnetic Properties of Materials Difficulty Level: Hard

63. Explain how a computers memory and the brains memory are similar to and different from each other.

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Chapter 11 Ans: Answers will vary, however, the essence is that the computer stores information in a linear fashion and the brain stores it with three-dimensional connectedness. Linked to: Microchips and the Information Revolution Difficulty Level: Hard

64. Do you think that the Turing Test is valid? How might intelligence or culture affect the outcome of the test? Ans: Answers will vary, but should describe the strengths and weaknesses of defining artificial intelligence. Linked to: Microchips and the Information Revolution Difficulty Level: Hard

65. You have invented a new material for a car or airplane. Describe the types of materials you might employ to achieve the desired characteristics. Ans: Answers will vary; knowledge of various types of materials used in combinations is essential. Linked to: The Strengths of Materials Difficulty Level: Hard

66. What determines how fast a computer performs operations? Ans: Answers will vary. Speed is proportional to the distance the electrons have to travel so the ultimate speed would be to have each atom become a memory point. Linked to: Microchips and the Information Revolution Difficulty Level: Hard

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