• Question: if you ran out of materials to use what would happen

    Asked by Lúc Ó Dufaigh to Caoimhe, Colin, David, Katie, Lisa on 17 Nov 2014.
    • Photo: David Taylor

      David Taylor answered on 17 Nov 2014:

      That would be a problem alright! But actually we will never run out. Some things (like iron for making steel, and silicon and oxygen for making glass) are so plentiful they will never run out, and anyway we can recycle them. Some other things are quite rare and can only be found in certain parts of the world, and that includes some of the things which are needed to make mobile phones. So they might run out or become difficult to get, but no doubt we could find replacements.

    • Photo: Colin Keogh

      Colin Keogh answered on 18 Nov 2014:

      If we ran out we would do what humans always do, adapt. We coudl start to recycle all previous materials, find new materials to use or new ways to maker materials, or even cooler search space for the materials we need (some companies are searching right now for comets to mine for materials like gold, platinum etc.)

    • Photo: Caoimhe O'Neill

      Caoimhe O'Neill answered on 19 Nov 2014:

      I agree with both David and Colin’s answers.
      I don’t think we’ll run out of any materials too soon but it’s still very important to reuse and recycle what we can to keep our carbon footprint low.

    • Photo: Katie Mahon

      Katie Mahon answered on 21 Nov 2014:

      All of the above! Even with the materials available, scientists & engineers are trying to find new ones which are cheaper or stronger or more flexible or whatever. You can see how stuff like buildings, clothing, airplanes have changed materials over time – it will keep changing depending on what we have available, and what we need.

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