HS-PS2-6 | Structure and Function of Materials · NYS standard · Regents questions

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Revision as of 01:33, 16 October 2026 by Conrad (talk | contribs) (Add Phenomena section: photo gallery plus one entry per phenomenon used in released Regents questions, each linked to its question)
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Communicate scientific and technical information about why the particulate-level structure is important in the functioning of designed materials.

Clarification statement: Emphasis is on the attractive and repulsive forces that determine the functioning of the material. Examples could include why electrically conductive materials are often made of metal, flexible but durable materials are made up of long chained molecules, and pharmaceuticals are designed to interact with specific receptors.

Assessment boundary: Assessment is limited to provided particulate structures of specific designed materials.

Note: this performance expectation integrates traditional science content with engineering through a Practice or Disciplinary Core Idea.

Regents Exam Questions

Released New York State Regents exam questions that assess HS-PS2-6 are listed here by exam and question cluster. Each link opens the question with its answer key.

Exam Cluster Question
August 2026 Chemistry Regents The Great American Solar Eclipse Question 13
Semiconductors Question 17
Safe Transport of Drinking Water Question 46
June 2026 Chemistry Regents The Accidental Development of Breathable, Waterproof Fabric Question 17
Chip Bag: PFAS vs PLA Plastics Question 34
Chip Bag: PFAS vs PLA Plastics Question 36
All About Aluminum Question 42
Chemistry sample clusters (Spring 2025) Smartphone Chemistry Question 2

Vocabulary

Terms from the Chemistry Glossary that come from this standard or from the released exam questions that assess it.

From this standard
  • atom
  • atomic scale
  • attraction
  • attractive force
  • bulk scale
  • component (of a system)
  • contact force
  • designed material
  • electric charge
  • electrical force
  • electrically conductive material
  • long-chained molecule
  • matter
  • metal
  • optimize
  • particulate-level structure
  • properties
  • receptor
  • repulsion
  • repulsive force
  • structure and function
  • system
  • transformation
From released exam questions
Implied by this standard
  • metallic bond – implied by "electrically conductive materials are often made of metal"

Performance Level Descriptions

Every Regents exam question on HS-PS2-6 is written to match one of the performance level descriptions (PLDs) below.

Level 1: Use information to identify a particulate-level structure or function of a designed material.
Level 2: Use information to describe how the particulate-level structure of designed material(s) supports its function.
Level 3: Use scientific or technical information to explain how the particulate-level structure is important to the functioning of designed material(s).
Level 4: Communicate scientific and technical information about why the particulate-level structure is important in the functioning of designed materials.
Level 5: Compare, integrate, and evaluate scientific and technical information about the structure and function of various designed materials at the particulate-level to optimize the functionality of a product.

Phenomena

  • Aluminum's mobile electrons make it the conductor of choice for power transmission lines. Photo: Stefan Andrej Shambora, CC BY 2.0

  • Stainless steel, an alloy of iron with carbon, chromium and nickel, replaced lead in water pipes. Photo: Wzinox, CC0

  • A 12-inch silicon wafer: doping the silicon lattice turns it into n-type or p-type semiconductor. Photo: Peellden, CC BY-SA 3.0

  • Smartphone screens are aluminosilicate glass hardened by swapping sodium ions for potassium ions. Photo: Pixel.la, CC0

  • Water beads on a water-repellent fabric. Photo: Bea Lipson, CSIRO, CC BY 3.0

  • Breathable, waterproof jackets rely on an ePTFE membrane with sub-micrometer pores. Photo: Michael Jordan, CC BY-SA 2.0

  • Cups made from PLA, a bioplastic built from lactic acid monomers. Photo: Bioleaderpack, CC BY 4.0

  • Sunscreen. Photo: Alpantex, CC BY-SA 4.0

The clarification statement for HS-PS2-6 names three kinds of designed material: electrically conductive materials made of metal, flexible but durable materials made of long-chained molecules, and pharmaceuticals designed to interact with specific receptors. The released Regents questions draw on everyday products and infrastructure built from the first two: power lines, water pipes, computer chips, phone screens, rain jackets, chip bags and sunscreen. Every phenomenon that a released Regents question has used to assess this standard is listed below, with a link to the question that uses it.

Metals, alloys and semiconductors

  • Aluminum in power lines. The United States goes through more than 80 billion aluminum cans a year, but aluminum's malleability, ductility, low density, conductivity and corrosion resistance also put it in window frames, airplane parts, kitchen foil and power transmission cables. Students pick the statement that correctly ties a feature of the metal's structure to one of these uses: its mobile electrons make it a good conductor for transmission lines. — All About Aluminum (June 2026, Question 42)
  • Stainless steel water pipes. Lead pipes corrode and release lead(II) ions into drinking water, so modern pipes are made of copper, PVC or stainless steel. Stainless steel is an alloy of iron with carbon, chromium and nickel, formed when other atoms substitute for iron atoms in the crystal or are trapped in the spaces between them. Using atomic radii, students identify which particle in a model of the alloy is carbon and explain how its place in the lattice supports the alloy's hardness and strength. — Safe Transport of Drinking Water (August 2026, Question 46)
  • Doped silicon semiconductors. Computers, mobile devices and medical imaging all depend on semiconductors, which are often made from Group 14 elements such as silicon. Pure silicon conducts poorly at room temperature, so atoms of other elements are added to the crystal lattice: an n-type dopant brings an extra mobile electron, and a p-type dopant leaves a "hole." Students choose which elements, judged by their outermost electrons, can produce each type of semiconductor. — Semiconductors (August 2026, Question 17)
  • Strengthened smartphone glass. Display screens are made of aluminosilicate glass with sodium ions dispersed through the surface. Soaking the glass in molten potassium salt at 400 °C swaps the sodium for larger potassium ions, which are compressed into the spaces between the glass molecules; the glass becomes harder and more break-resistant but less conductive, so a transparent indium tin oxide layer is added to make the touch screen work. Students explain why the particulate structure of the glass keeps the potassium ions from acting as a conductor. — Smartphone Chemistry (Sample cluster, Question 2)

Polymers and designed molecules

  • Breathable, waterproof fabric. PTFE was discovered by accident when tetrafluoroethylene gas stored under pressure coated its bottles with a slippery white powder, and in 1969 Robert Gore's sudden hard pull on a heated PTFE rod produced expanded PTFE (ePTFE). An ePTFE membrane is full of pores less than a micrometer across: small enough to stop liquid water droplets, large enough to let water vapor from sweat escape. Students rank a water molecule, an ePTFE pore and a water droplet by size. — The Accidental Development of Breathable, Waterproof Fabric (June 2026, Question 17)
  • PFAS "forever chemicals" in chip bags. Before 2010 most chip bags were made with PFAS (polyfluorinated alkyl substances), petroleum-based molecules so stable that they do not break down in the environment. Their stability comes from multiple carbon–fluorine bonds. Students explain how the difference in attraction for electrons between carbon and fluorine makes the C–F bond more stable than the C–H bond in a PLA molecule. — Chip Bag: PFAS vs PLA Plastics (June 2026, Question 34)
  • Cross-linked PLA bioplastic. PLA (polylactic acid) is a bioplastic made by joining lactic acid monomers, produced from sugar or corn, into long chains. Cross-linking sets up electrical forces between neighboring polymer strands, which improves durability at the expense of flexibility. Students identify those forces as attractive and predict their effect on the two properties. — Chip Bag: PFAS vs PLA Plastics (June 2026, Question 36)
  • Organic sunscreen molecules. Sunscreen shields skin from the ultraviolet part of sunlight; inorganic ingredients such as iron(II) oxide absorb, scatter and reflect UV, while organic molecules absorb it. When UV light strikes an organic sunscreen molecule, its bonds rearrange and the energy is released as heat, and visible light converts the molecule back to its original form. Students describe how this structure supports the molecule's function. — The Great American Solar Eclipse (August 2026, Question 13)

Resources

Examples and discussion of resources for the learning, teaching, and assessment of HS-PS2-6.

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NGSS Dimensions

Performance expectation HS-PS2-6 was developed using the following elements from the NRC document A Framework for K-12 Science Education:

Science and Engineering Practices
  • Obtaining, Evaluating, and Communicating Information
    • Communicate scientific and technical information (e.g. about the process of development and the design and performance of a proposed process or system) in multiple formats (including orally, graphically, textually, and mathematically).
Disciplinary Core Ideas
  • PS2.B: Types of Interactions
    • Attraction and repulsions between electric charges at the atomic scale explain the structure, properties, and transformations of matter, as well as the contact forces between material objects.
  • PS1.A Structure and Properties of Matter (secondary to HS-PS2-6)
    • The structure and interactions of matter at the bulk scale are determined by electrical forces within and between atoms.
Crosscutting Concepts
  • Structure and Function
    • Investigating or designing new systems or structures requires a detailed explanation of the properties of different materials, the structures of different components, and connections of components to reveal its function and/or solve a problem.
Page contributors: Conrad Richman, Caroline Leonard
Chemistry and Physics | HS. Structure and Properties of Matter
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