Material

substance that can occur in different amounts, all with some similar [mixture of some] characteristics, and with which objects can be made

Material is what everything that you can touch is made of. Even material that is too small to touch, is called material. We use materials to make things. We can also call material "physical substances."

Various different materials classified by microstructure. Clockwise from top-left: steel kitchen container (metals), terracotta flowerpots (ceramics), plastics (polymers), and wooden pallets (composites).

Raw material is materials such as ores which we can clean and mix with other materials to make another material like steel, for example. Cotton is a raw material used to make textiles, which are used to make clothes. Material is not matter, though. Matter is everything in existence. Material is used for things that have use. Refined materials are materials that have been refined, like metal, reduced or converted into better, more useful materials like clothes and tools. Refined materials are usually mixes of other materials, like glue or steel.

Some important materials

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Table of material properties

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Material Density (kg/m^3) Young's Modulus (GPa) Poisson's Ratio Thermal Conductivity (W/m-K) Specific Heat Capacity (J/kg-K) Ref.
Air 1.2 N/A N/A 0.0262 1005 [1]
Aluminum 2700 69 0.33 237 910 [2]
Copper 8960 130 0.34 401 385 [3]
Glass (Pyrex) 2230 64 0.23 1.1 840 [4]
Gold 19320 79 0.44 320 129 [5]
Water 1000 N/A N/A 0.606 4181 [6]

References

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  1. "Air - Thermophysical Properties".
  2. "Young's Modulus - Tensile and Yield Strength for Materials".
  3. "Thermal Conductivity of Metals".
  4. "Physical Properties of Glass".
  5. "Thermal Conductivity of Metals".
  6. "Water - Thermal Properties".