Potholes can appear in road beds or in any rock which has been subject to alternate heating and cooling. Chemical properties are those properties which tell engineers and scientists how a material reacts with the chemicals in its environment. These days it s important to know how materials will react to acid rain. Your students may think these are silly questions, stone canoes would sink and marble mattresses would be really uncomfortable, but ask them how they know these things. It is precisely because they know about the properties of stone and marbles that they will think the questions are nonsense.
Materials engineers have to know the properties of the materials they work with that well.
Glass usually breaks easily but resists cuts well. It has better hardness. Fatigue is wear or breakage which results from continuous or frequent use, so the students should think of things which get used often. Door hinges, airplane wings, diving boards, wheel axles, joy sticks on video games are some examples of items which need to resist fatigue. If you don't want to get burned, the handle should be made out of some type of insulating material.