Classification: Internal

Core Practical 8: Determine the tensile strength of plant fibres

Objectives
● To know how to determine the tensile strength of plant fibres
● To be able to comment on experimental design and evaluate scientific methods

Safety
● Use a sharp knife, place the celery on the tile and cut down onto the tile.
● Wash hands with soap and water after the practical work is over.
● Take care when using the knife to cut the celery.

Procedure Notes on procedure

Although the retting process can be used to produce
plant fibres, it is time consuming. Therefore, a simpler • Removing the fibres from the
celery stalks can be quick difficult
process of extracting plant fibres will be used in this
so it is useful to arrange for some
investigation.
to be prepared in advance. These
1. Carefully remove nine fibrous strings from the should be kept under water to
celery stalks, using the knife. Use a white tile as a avoid them drying out.
cutting surface. • An alternative to celery fibres is
2. Carefully inspect the strings to ensure there are no banana skins cut into thin strips.
breaks or cuts. Each string should have a constant These will obviously contain more
diameter along its whole length. fibres which can be discussed
from a validity point of view with
3. Cut the strings so you have three that are 10 cm the students.
long, three 15 cm long and three 20 cm long. • Attaching the fibres to the clamp
4. Clamp one of the 10 cm strings between two retort stand can be very difficult.
stands. Ensure it is held securely. Students will need to clamp the
thin fibres carefully. If using
5. Place the cushioning underneath the string. rubber tipped clamps the addition
Ensure the tray is kept beneath the masses, so of small pieces of tissue paper the
they do not strike the bench when the string lamp will proved more grip if the
breaks. fibres are still damp.
6. Add masses 10 g at a time until the string breaks • The fibres will snap unexpectedly
(see figure A). Record the mass in the results and so it is important that there is
table. cushion material underneath the
weights. Crumpled paper or
7. Repeat steps 4–6 with each of the other strings.
folded cotton wool inside a small
box works well.
• Ensure students work with
enough room as the falling
masses do create a lot of noise.
This can be disruptive if the
classroom is very crowded.
• An independent variable can be
introduced to the investigation by
preparing the celery fibre in
advance and then allowing them
to dry for varying periods of time
to determine whether this has an
effect on the tensile strength.
• If the fibres being used break too
easily using 10g masses then
paperclips can be used instead.

Answers to questions

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Practical activities have been safety checked but not trialled. Users may need to adapt the risk assessment
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Classification: Internal

1. This answer will depend on your data. To find a value, you should have drawn a line from
12.5 cm on the x-axis up to the line of best fit, and then across to the y-axis.
2. Use smaller masses, so the mass at which the string breaks is closer to the true value.
3. One of:
● The strings may have come from different parts of the stalk. Some parts of the stalk may
have denser fibres, so the data may have provided higher or lower values accordingly.
● Storage condition or age of the celery. The tissues may have been degraded or weaker, so
they snapped at a lower value.
● The time between cutting the strings and using them may have allowed some strings to dry
out. This may have caused them to be more brittle and to snap at a lower value.
4. One of:
● Test fibres from other types of plant to see if the pattern shown by the celery strings is
replicated.
● Use a greater range of lengths of celery string, to determine if the pattern continues.

Answers to exam-style questions

1. Testable hypothesis/prediction stated (1)
Mark lengths of e.g. 0.25 cm, 0.5 cm, 0.75 cm, 1.0 cm, 1.25 cm, 1.5 cm along an intact banana
(1)
Cut the banana into sections, cutting at these points Push the edible part our of the banana and
discard (1)
Hang a loop of banana skin on a clamp and secure it. (1)
Hang slotted mass from the lower end of the loop until breaking point is reached. (1)
Repeat three times and find mean. (1)
Repeat with different lengths of banana skin loops (1)
Tabulate and graph data (1)
Other valid point (1)

2 Tensile strength = breaking force/cross sectional area

Breaking force = 300 g = 0.3 kg = 3 N
Diameter = 2 mm 0.002 m so radius = 0.001 m
Cross sectional area = 3.142 x (0.001)2 = 0.003142 m2
Tensile strength = 2.94/0.003142 = 935.7 x103 Nm-2/ 936 x103 Nm-2

3 (beta) Glucose

4 Protein

Sample data

© Pearson Education Ltd 2018. Copying permitted for purchasing institution only. This material is not copyright free.
Practical activities have been safety checked but not trialled. Users may need to adapt the risk assessment
information to local circumstances. 2
Classification: Internal

Length of Mass needed to break /g Mean

fibre /cm 1 2 3
10 55 70 65 63.3
15 65 70 90 75
20 85 80 95 86.6

© Pearson Education Ltd 2018. Copying permitted for purchasing institution only. This material is not copyright free.
Practical activities have been safety checked but not trialled. Users may need to adapt the risk assessment
information to local circumstances. 3