Ceramic materials are compounds. They include metal silicates, metal oxides, metal carbides and metal nitrides.

Example of ceramics:
Toilets
Bricks

What are the properties of ceramics?
All ceramics have similar physical properties
Hard- you can only scratch them with harder materials
Brittle- they break easily
Stiff- they are difficult to bend
Solid at room temperature, with very high melting points
Strong when forces press on them
Breaks easily when stretched
Electrical insulators
Ceramics also have similar chemical properties to each other. They do not react with water, acids and alkalis.

Why are ceramic useful?
Ceramics have many uses. Brick are strong when forces press on them. They are also durable and attractive. This make them suitable.
 
Ceramics do not conduct electricity. They are not damaged by water. This makes them useful for electrical power lines. In addition to this ceramics have high melting points. As a result this make suitable for jet engine turbine blades, which get very hot.

Why do ceramics have these properties?
In ceramics materials, a huge number of atoms join together in one big structure. There are strong forces between atoms.
You need a great amount of energy to break forces between atoms.This is why ceramics hae high melting points

Bonds betwwen atoms are strong.This is why they are hard.You break some bonds when you scratch ceramic materials.

 

Practical: Comparing ceramic strength

The three ceramic materials that we will be using to compare different kinds of ceramic strength are :
1)Ceramic Glass
2)Ceramic Tile
3)Brick

 

Equipment and materials:
Eye Protection
Ceramics samples
Ruler

Risk assessment
Wear Eye Goggles
Tie your hair
Wear safety shoes 
Tie your shoelaces
Be extra careful with the samples, as they might be heavy
Be careful while throwing the sample on the floor 

Method:
1)Take your ceramic samples.
2)Leave the sample from the height of 200 cm.
3)Take note of how easily the sample breaks.
4)Repeat and record the observations with the next two samples.