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Materials

Things that you can use to make other things from.

Subcategories: Fabrics (29), Fuels (10), Metals (23), Stones (61), Wood (5)

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R is for Rope

A rope is a very thick, strong piece of string. You use rope for tying big things, like the sails on a yacht, like the rope in the picture. A fun use for rope is a tug 'o war. Rope is usually made from the fibre from coconut shells, or a modern fibre like nylon, twisted together so it is thicker.
If you need to tie something that is too big or heavy for ordinary rope, you either need rope made from strands of metal or use some steel chain.

R is for Rose quartz

Rose quartz is simply quartz containing impurities that gives it a delicate pink colour. It is popular for jewellery, and for carving small ornaments and trinkets from.

R is for Rubber

Rubber is an interesting material that has some interesting properties, including of elasticity - it can be forced out of shape and will snap back to its original shape once you remove the force.
Rubber can be made from either natural latex or manufactured synthetically in a factory.

R is for Ruby

Rubies are gemstone quality corundums, a pink to red stone. They are made from aluminium oxide crystals, with the red colour from traces of chromium.

R is for Rust

Rust is what happens to iron when there is moisture around. Things will rust faster if there is any salt in the water, which happens often near the sea or if salt has been used to de-ice roads or href="/s/sidewalk">sidewalk.
Rust is a distinctive reddish-brown. It is common to see old cars falling apart from rust.

S is for Sand

Sand is something that beaches are made of. Beach sand is made up of ground up rocks and fragments of shells. Beach sand can have quite large bits in it compared to garden dirt. Desert sand is just made from ground up rocks.
The colour of sand varies depending on what kind of rocks or shells went into making it.

S is for Sandstone

Sandstone is a common sedimentary rock that is made from sand, compressed together in layers. It is a soft rock and exposed sandstone is easily eroded by the wind.

S is for Sapphire

Sapphires are deep blue gemstone quality corundums. They are made from aluminium oxide crystals, the same as rubies, with the blue colour from traces of titanium and iron. Sapphires are very hard and have industrial uses as well as being used in jewelry.

S is for Satin

Satin is a shiny fabric usually made of silk or nylon. Satin has a very smooth texture.

S is for Sawdust

Sawdust is the name for the fine particles of wood that are made when you cut wood up with a saw. In the picture you can see the pile of sawdust that has been made when the tree was cut.

Sawdust makes really good bedding for pet mice and guinea pigs.

S is for Scrap

Scraps are small pieces of something, usually the remnants from cutting out what you want from something. Scraps can often be reused for other projects.
Scrap might also describe general waste that may or may not be able to be recycled, such as scrap metal.

S is for Shale

Shale is a sedimentary rock formed from layers of clay settling over time. The color of the shale varies depending on the impurities in the clay.
Shale can be easily broken into its layers, and is a relatively fragile rock.

S is for Shingle

Shingles are small, overlapping peices of a material like slate or cedar that are used to build rooves out of.

S is for Silk

Silk is a fabric made from the cocoons of the silkworm. The fabric itself has a natural shine to it because of the way light passes through the silk fibres. Silk has been a highly prized fabric for thousands of years.

S is for Silver

Silver is a soft, shiny metal that can be polished to be highly reflective. It tarnishes easily, however. Silver is very conductive and today is used electrical components. Silver is widely used for making jewellery, and was used for making tableware like knives and fork. As pure silver is so soft, most practical items made from silver are made from an alloy of silver and another metal like copper.

S is for Slate

Slate is a type of stone that has a clear grain to it and can be split into quite thin pieces. Slate shingles have been used for centuries to make rooves out of, and can also be used for tiling floors or building walls out of.

S is for Sleeper

Sleepers are heavy pieces of wood or concrete that are used for support. They are most commonly seen under railway tracks, but are also popular as garden edging or for making outdoor furniture.

S is for Soapstone

Soapstone is a soft stone that is made up mostly of talc. It feels slightly soapy to touch, hence the name. Because soapstone is so soft, it is often used to carve sculptures and household items from.

S is for Sodalite

Sodalite is a blue stone that is found in large veins. It is one of the minerals found in lapis lazuli. Large quantities of sodalite are opaque but the individual small crystals are transparent.

S is for Solder

Solder is an alloy of tin and lead. It has a low melting point, and is used to join small metal things together. Soldering is most often used to make circuit boards.