Technology, Materials, and Processes: A Comprehensive Look

Technology, Materials, and Processes

Technology seeks to meet human needs by creating artificial objects. It involves the study of materials, technical skills, and work organization.

Materials are consumed in a process. They are used once and then depleted.

Tools are not consumed in a process. They can be used repeatedly and experience little to no depletion.

Inventing is creating an object for the first time.

Innovating is improving an object that already exists.

Discovering is finding something that existed but was previously unknown.

Craftsmanship involves creating objects with few or many people. These objects are unique because they are handmade with limited tools and tend to be expensive.

Industry involves many people, resulting in identical objects produced using machinery, making the objects inexpensive.

Technological Process

The technological process involves the steps we must take to solve a problem:

• • Define: Clearly define the object we want to achieve.
  • Research: Seek information about existing objects or design a solution. The result is a design plan.
  • Create: Build the object, planning the sequence of steps and calculating the economic cost.
  • Evaluate: Assess whether the object meets the defined properties.

Project Report: A document that lists the steps to find a solution.

Building Materials: Stone

• Natural: Characterized by being resistant, waterproof, abundant, and cheap. Obtained in gravel pits (boulders, heterogeneous and smooth rocks with rounded surfaces) and quarries (rocks used in their natural state as sturdy elements, for ornamentation, and in manufacturing other products). Used in gross work (foundations, floors, walls, or flat roof structures), gravel (aggregate for concrete and terrazzo), sand (for mortar, concrete), and powder (in the preparation of lime and cement).
• Artificial:
  • Ceramic: Characterized by breathability, insulation, hardness, brittleness, and durability. Divided into two groups:
    • Non-Vitrified: Such as roof tiles (used to cover buildings), bricks (made in areas with scarce stone and abundant clay; the first bricks were adobe, clay mixed with straw and dried in the sun), floor tiles (uncoated, non-vitrified tiles used on floors).
    • Vitrified: Such as gres (obtained by cooking until vitrification; used on walls and floors), tile (ceramic tiles with two layers: thick clay and fine vitreous enamel for waterproofing and wear resistance), porcelain (a very hard and fragile ceramic product, white or translucent, not considered a construction material), earthenware (lightweight, porous, and absorbent, made from clay, quartz, and feldspar, mainly used for medical devices).
  • Binders: Include lime (used in cement mortar and, diluted with water, as a lime slurry for painting walls and fences).