Materials Humans Use

[Figure 1]

What resources are in those electronics?

When you pick up your personal electronics device or your mobile phone do you ever think about what's in it? A tremendous variety of elements are needed to make a single electronic device. Some are rare, some are common. All must somehow come from Earth or its environment.

Natural Resources

A natural resource is anything in nature that humans need. Metals and fossil fuels are natural resources. But so are water, sunlight, soil, and wind. Even living things are natural resources.

Using Natural Resources

We need natural resources for just about everything we do. We need them for food and clothing, for building materials, and energy. We even need them to have fun. Listed below are examples of how we use natural resources (Table below). Can you think of other ways we use natural resources?

Use	Example Resources	Natural Source
Vehicles [Figure 2]	Rubber for tires from rubber trees Steel frames and other metal parts from minerals such as iron	Iron ore [Figure 3]
Electronics [Figure 4]	Plastic cases from petroleum products Wires and other components from minerals such as silicon and copper	Native copper [Figure 5]
Homes [Figure 6]	Nails from minerals such as iron Timber from trees	Spruce timber [Figure 7]
Jewelry [Figure 8]	Gemstones such as diamonds Minerals such as silver	Silver ore [Figure 9]
Food [Figure 10]	Sunlight, water, and soil Plants and animals	Wheat seeds [Figure 11]
Clothing [Figure 12]	Wool from sheep Cotton from cotton plants	Cotton plants [Figure 13]
Recreation [Figure 14]	Water for boating and swimming Forests for hiking and camping	Pine forest [Figure 15]

Some natural resources are renewable. Others are non-renewable. It depends on what they are and how we use them.

Summary

• Many objects, such as a car, contain many types of resources.
• Resources may be renewable or non-renewable, and an object may contain some of each.
• Rare earth elements and other unusual materials are used in some electronic devices.

Review

1. What are natural resources?
2. Is clean air a natural resource? Why or why not?
3. What natural resources are important to you?