Analysing objects

Explain in your own words what it means to analyse a technical object, and write a specific question for each of these sections applied to a school bag: function, form, materials, manufacturing, cost, and environmental impact.

You are analyzing any technological object (for example, a chair or a bottle). The analysis has four sections and there are four jumbled questions that are used to complete them.

Analysis sections:

1. a) Function

1. b) Materials

1. c) Manufacturing

1. d) Shape

Questions:

1. What machines and processes were used to make it?

2. What size, color and structure does it have?

3. What is it for and what need does it meet?

4. What materials is it made of and where do they come from?

Tasks:

1. a) Match each section with the question that corresponds to it (for example, a-3).

1. b) Justify one of your choices with a sentence.

1. c) Suggest a fifth section that is not on the list (for example, one about what happens to the object when it is no longer used) and write the question you would give it.

The figure shows the analysis sheet of a chair divided into six sections, but one is covered.

The covered section is the one that studies where the materials come from, what waste the chair will generate at the end of its life, and the conditions under which the person who manufactured it worked. Name it, explain what is analysed in it, and write two specific questions it should answer.

Every object has a main function and several secondary functions. For a reusable bottle, distinguish its main function (containing and carrying liquid) from at least three secondary functions (measuring, insulating, identifying its owner, sealing well while moving) and explain which part of the object fulfills each one.

Functional analysis asks first "what does it have to do?" and not "what does it look like?". Apply it to the object "classroom mobile phone holder": write three functions it must fulfill ordered from essential to desirable, and explain how this list influences any subsequent design.

An appliance internationally awarded for its avant-garde aesthetics is an electric kettle shaped as a seamless, shiny stainless-steel cone, with the metal handle welded directly to the body, without a transparent water level gauge, and with flat, smooth touch buttons on the base. User reports following its commercial launch highlight four critical problems: 1) the handle reaches 85 °C and causes burns unless a glove is used; 2) it is impossible to know how much water it contains without opening the lid, causing it to boil dry; 3) water drips down the side when pouring because the spout does not protrude from the conical body; and 4) it cannot be operated in the dark or by visually impaired people. From the principles of formal, technical, and ergonomic analysis: a) Explain how prioritising visual appearance violated a specific technical principle in each of the four failures. b) Redesign these four aspects by proposing materials, geometry, or added elements that restore functionality and safety without losing a clean, modern aesthetic.

The figure shows a pair of scissors with two parts labelled with their material and a third covered.

The covered piece is the point around which the two blades pivot. Name it, explain what type of joint it forms (secures the blades while allowing them to rotate), and explain why a specific material is needed: why is it not usually made of plastic?

In an umbrella, several materials coexist: polyester fabric, metal ribs, and a plastic handle. Match each material with the property that makes it essential for its part (waterproof and foldable, rigid and lightweight, comfortable and mouldable) and explain what would happen if you swapped two of them.

Deduce how these three objects were manufactured by observing their shape and markings, and justify each deduction: a wire paperclip, a transparent plastic ruler with raised letters, and a carved wooden spoon.

Explain the difference between the cost of an object (what it costs to make: materials, energy, labour, transport) and its price (what the buyer pays), and explain why two T-shirts with the same manufacturing cost can have very different prices.

Compare a disposable water bottle and a steel canteen: same function, but very different materials and manufacturing. Analyse cost per use (not per unit), waste generated in one year, and convenience, and conclude for which situations each one makes sense.

To equip a school dining hall with 200 chairs, two bids are compared: Bid A: One-piece injected polypropylene chairs. Manufacturing the injection mould costs €18 000 and each unit produced costs €6,50. They have an estimated lifespan of 6 years and cannot be repaired if they break. Bid B: Pine and plywood chairs built with dismountable mechanical joints at €38,00 a unit. They have a lifespan of 15 years and their damaged parts can be replaced with an average repair cost of €4,00 per breakdown. 1) Calculate the actual unit cost of the polypropylene chairs if only the 200 units were produced for this school and calculate starting from what number of chairs produced option A becomes cheaper in initial cost than option B. 2) From the technical analysis standpoint (cleaning/hygiene in contact with food, torsional mechanical stresses from children's use, and end-of-life of the material), justify which of the two bids is technically more suitable for the dining hall.