Where do materials come from?
Materials are the substances we use to make things. They are made of one or more types of matter. Some come straight from nature and others are made by people.
Raw materials: from nature
Metals, stones, chemicals and ores (metals mixed with rock, like iron, copper or aluminium). If they are buried, we must mine them.
Wool from sheep, honey from bees, hide (skin) for leather, milk from cows and silk from silkworms.
We eat many plants, and they also give us wood, rubber and cotton.
Man-made materials
We make man-made materials by transforming raw materials, or by combining them:
Raw materials from living things, like wood or cotton, can grow again: they are naturally replaced. Materials from the ground, like metals, cannot. That is why we must use them carefully and recycle glass, paper and aluminium, so they never run out.