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New Wheels for the Loaner Boards

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New Wheels for the Loaner Boards

Trace skateboard wheels to their natural resources and weigh their effects.

What a skateboard is made of

Read the passage, then answer the questions.

The Board Shop at the Youth Center

1The youth center in Eastlake has a small board shop where teens fix up donated skateboards and lend them out. This fall, volunteer Ms. Ngaio Parata asked seventh graders Jun-ho Park and Amaru Quispe to choose new wheels for the center's 30 loaner boards. First, she asked them to find out what each part of a board is made of.

2A deck is made of thin layers of maple wood. The wood is cut and dried, but it is still wood, a natural material. The layers are pressed together with a synthetic glue. Grip tape on top of the deck is a plastic film with a sticky back and a rough, gritty top.

3The first skateboards, in the 1950s and 1960s, often rolled on steel or clay wheels. These wheels slipped on smooth ground and rattled over every crack. In the early 1970s, wheels made of polyurethane, often called urethane, appeared. Most polyurethane is made from chemicals that come from crude oil or natural gas, which are natural resources. At a chemical plant, small molecules made from these chemicals react and link into long chains. The result is a new substance that is not found in nature. While it is still a thick liquid, it is poured into wheel-shaped molds, where it hardens. Urethane wheels gripped the ground and rolled smoothly over small cracks, and they are often credited with helping skateboarding become much more popular.

4Today, some wheels are made partly from plant oils, such as castor bean oil, instead of only from crude oil. The plant oil is changed into new substances by chemical reactions as well. Polyurethane also has costs. Crude oil and natural gas are nonrenewable. Some of the chemicals used to make polyurethane can harm workers' lungs, so factories must handle them with care. Urethane breaks down very slowly, and most worn-out wheels end up in landfills.

5To compare wheel sets, Jun-ho and Amaru strapped a 20 kg sandbag onto one board instead of a rider. For each set, they let the board go from the top of the same short ramp and measured how far it rolled on smooth concrete and on the cracked asphalt path behind the center. They ran three trials for each set and recorded the average.

1.
Use paragraph 3. Complete the steps for making a urethane wheel.

Crude oil is a natural . At a chemical plant, small molecules made from it and link into long . The thick liquid is poured into , where it hardens into wheels.

2.
Use paragraphs 2 and 3. Which part of a skateboard is a natural material?
Question 2 options
3.
Amaru says the plant-based wheels are a natural material because they start with castor bean oil. Use paragraph 4. Why are they still a synthetic material?
Question 3 options

The roll test

Use Table 1 and the passage to compare the wheel sets.

Table 1. Roll Test With a 20 kg Sandbag (average of 3 trials)
Wheel setMade mainly fromSmooth concrete (m)Cracked asphalt (m)Price for 4 wheels
Hard urethaneCrude oil or natural gas167$28
Soft urethaneCrude oil or natural gas1311$32
Plant-based soft urethaneCastor oil and crude oil1310$40
4.
Use Table 1.

On cracked asphalt, the soft urethane wheels rolled m farther than the hard urethane wheels. On smooth concrete, the hard wheels rolled m farther than the soft wheels.

5.
Which statement best describes the pattern in Table 1?
Question 5 options
6.
Each board needs one set of 4 wheels.

Buying plant-based soft wheels for all 30 loaner boards would cost $ more than buying soft urethane wheels made from crude oil.

7.
Underline each statement that describes an effect of synthetic urethane wheels on society or the environment.

8.
Ms. Parata asks what would change if the shop switched from soft urethane wheels to plant-based soft wheels. Which answer is best supported by paragraph 4 and Table 1?
Question 8 options
9.
Use paragraph 3. Which change in skateboarding is best explained by the switch to urethane wheels in the 1970s?
Question 9 options
10.
Most loaner boards are ridden on the cracked asphalt path from the youth center to the park. Which wheel set should the shop buy? Write a claim, use data from Table 1 as evidence, explain what natural resource your choice is made from and how it becomes a synthetic material, and name one cost of your choice to society or the environment.