What is a kangaroo?

A kangaroo is an animal found only in Australia, although it has a smaller relative, called
a wallaby, which lives on the Australian island of Tasmania and also in New Guinea.
Kangaroos eat grass and plants. They have short front legs, but very long, and very
strong back legs and a tail. These they use for sitting up on and for jumping. Kangaroos
have been known to make forward jumps of over eight metres, and leap across fences
more than three metres high. They can also run at speeds of over 45 kilometres per
hour. The largest kangaroos are the Great Grey Kangaroo and the Red Kangaroo.
Adults grow to a length of 1.60 metres and weigh over 90 kilos. Kangaroos are
marsupials. This means that the female kangaroo has an external pouch on the front of
her body. A baby kangaroo is very tiny when it is born, and it crawls at once into this
pouch where it spends its first five months of life.

Text Source: Peter Haddock Ltd., Ref.083

What is thunder and lightning?

Lightning is a sudden, violent flash of electricity between a cloud and the ground, or
from cloud to cloud. A lightning flash, or bolt, can be several miles long. It is so hot, with
an average temperature of 34,000° Centigrade, that the air around it suddenly expands
with a loud blast. This is the thunder we hear. Lightning occurs in hot, wet storms. Moist
air is driven up to a great height. It forms a type of cloud called cumulo-nimbus. When
the cloud rises high enough the moisture freezes and ice crystals and snowflakes are
formed. These begin to fall, turning to rain on the way down. This rain meets more moist
air rising, and it is the friction between them which produces static electricity. When a
cloud is fully charged with this electricity, it discharges it as a lightning flash.

Text Source: Peter Haddock Ltd., Ref.083

Fibres
Fibres can be divided into three categories.

Animal Plant Chemical

(protein) (cellulose) (synthetic)

wool cotton polyester

silk flax acrylic
cahsmere rayon

The most common fibres used are wool, cotton and polyester.
Wool is the fleece of the sheep that is spun and woven after the animal has been shorn.
Different
qualities of wool come from different varieties of sheep. Fleeces of merino sheep are
most commonly used in Australia.Wool is a protein fibre called keratine. Like human
hair, wool fibres have scales which overlap each other. It is because of these scales,
which trap the air, the wool keeps you feeling warm or cool.

Cotton comes from the seed pod of the cotton plant. It is a cellulose fibre, consisting of
plant cells, and has different properties from protein fibres. The cotton plan is a dark
green bushy plant that grows in warm, moist climates. In Australia, cotton is grown in
nothern New South Wales and Queensland. Cotton is a fibre with a gentle twist. Cotton
may also go through a process called mercerisation. This is when cotton is treated in a
bath of caustic soda; this strengthens the fibre and
gives it a shine.

Polyester is a synthetic fibre that is made from by-products of petroleum and chemicals.
It is a
very straight and smooth fibre. (From Hynes and Kovesdy, 1991)

Text Source: Peter Haddock Ltd., Ref.083