Two Rooms at the Community Bike Shop

A Material Check at Pedal Path Community Bike Shop

Pedal Path Community Bike Shop has a front display room and a back repair bay. The shop team received six unlabeled pieces from those two rooms. They wanted to identify each piece before ordering replacement parts. The pieces were cut into equal-size rectangular blocks. Each block was the same size as the known reference blocks. The team used the same balance, magnet, flashlight, bending test, and simple circuit for every block.

For the bending test, a block was gently pressed between two supports. A result of “bends” means the block curved without breaking. A result of “stays straight” means it did not curve in that test. For the light test, “passes” means light could be seen through the block, while “blocks” means the block stopped the flashlight beam. The team did not use one observation by itself to name a material.

The team recorded observations for five known reference materials. The unknown pieces were labeled P, Q, and R from the front display room and S, T, and U from the repair bay. The letters in the records are labels, not material names.