Overview of mechanical, electrical and thermal properties that may be relevant to the function of an engineering product; Definitions of Young's modulus, toughness, tensile and compressive strength; Types of conduction process; Electrical conductivity and carrier mobility; Thermal expansion coefficients; Thermal conductivity; Crystalline, polycrystalline and amorphous forms of condensed matter; Atomic packing in crystals; Packing diagrams, space lattices; Miller indices; Determination of crystal structures; Bonding in solids; Metallic bonding and metallic crystals; Ionic bonds and ionic crystals; Covalent bonds in molecules, hybrid orbitales, tetrahedral bonds, covalent crystals; Hydrogen bonds; Van der Waals forces; Imperfections in crystals; Point defects, energy of formation, diffusion; Edge and screw dislocations, Burger’s vector; Dislocation energy, mobility of dislocations and its role in plastic deformation; Pinning of dislocations; Fundamental problem of materials science: clarification of the relationship between chemical composition, bonding type, crystal structure and characteristic properties; The relationship will be discussed for four solid types: metals, semiconductors, polymers and ceramics.