Sorting Materials Into Groups

Class 6 Science
Questions and Answers Page | 1

Table of Contents
• Very Short Answer Questions
• Short Type Questions & Answers
• Long Answer Type Questions
•
Very Short Answer Type Questions -

1. Why do we need to group materials? Give one reason.

Answer: We often group materials for our convenience. It helps to describe
their properties.

2. Suggest two bases on which we can group objects.

Answer:
(i) Material used in making the object, e.g. wood or metal/plastic.
(ii) Material of the object is soft or hard, or substance is soluble or insoluble
in water.

3. Is a substance which can be compressed soft or hard?

Answer: Soft.

4. Select a lustrous material out of the following substances:

Answer: Aluminium.

5. Which material is generally used for making pens? Wood,

aluminium, plastic, cotton
Answer: Plastic or metal.

6. Is oil soluble in water?

Answer: Oil does not dissolve in water so it is insoluble in water but floats
on the surface of water.

7. Name two objects which are made from opaque materials.

Answer: Wooden doors, blackboard/steel plate.

PREPARED BY Saurabh Gupta (DHINGRA CLASSES)

8. What is common between salt and sand?
Answer: Both have mass and are in solid state.

9. List three liquids which are transparent.

Answer: Water, alcohol and Acetone/Benzene. Page | 2

10. Write two substances which are made from leather.

Answer: Belt and shoes.

11. Name some substances which are made from plastics.

Answer: Toys, plates, cups, buckets, baskets.

12. Which is more hard, sponge or iron?

Answer: Iron is harder than sponge.

13. Write two gases which are soluble in water.

Answer: Oxygen, Carbon dioxide.

14. Name two gases which are insoluble in water.

Answer: Hydrogen and Nitrogen.

15. Name a non-metal that has lustre.

Answer: Iodine.

16. Take a small cotton ball and place it in a tumbler/bowl filled with
water. Observe it for atleast 10 minutes. Will it float or sink in water
and why?
Answer: Cotton ball initially floats and then sinks as it absorbs water.

17. Which property of gases helps us in detecting leakage of cooking

gas?
Answer: The property of diffusion.

18. Name the two gases used by aquatic plants and animals, that are
soluble in water.
Answer: Oxygen and carbon dioxide are used by animals and aquatic
plants.

PREPARED BY Saurabh Gupta (DHINGRA CLASSES)

19. What do you understand by the word ‘classification’?
Answer: Classification means grouping the things on the basis of their
similarities and dissimilarities.

20. Give an example to explain that one object can be made from Page | 3
different materials.
Answer: A plate can be made from steel, glass or plastic.

21. Give one example to explain that different materials are used to
make one object.
Answer: A bag is made of cloth, plastic and metal.

22. What is a combustible material?

Answer: A material which burns on heating at a particular temperature is a
combustible material.

Short Type Questions & Answers

1: Name five items which can be made of plastic.

Answer: Five items that can be made of plastic are plate, phone, pencil box,
pen and chair.

2: Classify these objects as eatables or non eatables.

Sugar, apple, ball, pen, pot, grapes, chocolates

Answer: Eatables- sugar, apple, grapes and chocolates.

Non eatables-ball, pen and pot

3: Which of these objects are made of wood and which of them are
made of paper?
Table, chair, newspaper, calendar, bullock cart, notebook

Answer: Objects made of wood- table, chair and bullock cart. Objects
made of paper- newspaper, calendar and notebook.

4: Which of the following are shiny objects:

Wood, copper wire, paper, chalk, aluminium sheet, steel spoon
Answer: Copper wire, aluminium sheet and steel spoon are shiny objects.

PREPARED BY Saurabh Gupta (DHINGRA CLASSES)

5: What is the difference between soft and hard material?
Answer: Soft materials are those which can be compressed or scratched
easily.

6: Why some materials lose their shine and appear dull? Page | 4

Answer: Some materials often lose their shine and appear dull because of
the action of air and moisture on them.

7: What types of substances are soluble in water? Give example.

Answer: Substances that completely disappear or dissolve in water are

soluble in water. For example-salt, sugar etc.

8: What type of substances is called translucent?

Answer: The materials through which objects can be seen but not clearly
are known as
translucent. For example-oily patch on paper.

9: Classify the following on the basis of float or sink in water:

Leaf, key, apple, stone, paper

Answer: Float in water: leaf, paper

Sink in water: key, apple and stone.

10: Classify the following as transparent or translucent or opaque

material:
Cardboard, glass, water, oily paper, wood, stone, metal

Answer: Transparent –glass, water.

Translucent-oily paper
Opaque-cardboard, wood, stone, metal.

11: What do you mean by the term ‘transparent’?

Answer: Those substances or material, through which things can be seen

are called transparent. For example-water, glass etc.

PREPARED BY Saurabh Gupta (DHINGRA CLASSES)

12: Find the odd one out:
a. Iron, wood, nail, cotton.
b. Sugar, salt, sand, milk
c. Copper, wood, aluminium, gold.
d. Table, chair, coin, bed Page | 5

Answer: Cotton, sand, wood, coin.

13: What is the difference between transparent and translucent?

Answer: Those substances or material, through which things can be seen

are called transparent. For example-water, glass etc.
The materials through which objects can be seen but not clearly are known
as translucent. For example-oily patch on paper, butter paper.

14: Why do we need to group materials?

Answer: Dividing materials into groups makes it easy to study their

properties. It also helps to observe any pattern in these properties. For
example: by placing similar types of objects together, we can locate them
easily

15. What are the similarities between iron, copper and aluminium?

Answer:
(a) They all have lustre,
(b) They are all metals,
(c) They are hard.

16. Mention some materials which are made up of paper.

Answer: Books, notebooks, newspapers, toys, calendars, etc.

17. Why is water important for our body?

Answer: Water can dissolve a large number of substances, so it is needed
by the body. It is also major part of our body cells.

PREPARED BY Saurabh Gupta (DHINGRA CLASSES)

18. What is the basis for sorting materials?
Answer: Materials are grouped on the basis of similarities or dissimilarities
in their properties.

19. What is the reason for grouping materials? Page | 6

Answer: Materials are grouped for our convenience to study their
properties and also observe any patterns in these properties.

20. Metals have lustre (shine). Give reason why some metal articles
become dull and lose their shine.
Answer: Metals when exposed to air react with moisture and gases present
in it, thereby forming a dull layer of some other compound on it.

21. Kerosene, coconut oil, mustard oil do not dissolve in water, even
on shaking. They separate after sometime forming two different
layers. Explain why.

Answer: The molecules of water do not intermingle (mix) with the

molecules of oil. The space between the molecules of water is not taken by
oil, so they are immiscible in water.

22. Metals generally occur in solid state and are hard. Name a metal
that exists in liquid state and a metal that is soft and can be cut with
knife.

Answer: Mercury is a metal that exists in liquid state. Sodium and

Potassium are soft metals and can be cut with knife.

25. Name the naturally occurring hardest substance known.

Answer: Diamond, it is made up of carbon (non-metal).

24. Why is water called a universal solvent?

Answer: Water dissolves a large number of substances in it. So, it is called
universal solvent.

25. Why do we classify materials into different groups?

PREPARED BY Saurabh Gupta (DHINGRA CLASSES)

Answer: Materials are classified into different groups for the following
reasons:
i. For the convenience of identifying and locating the different materials.
ii. To study their properties and identify common patterns among them.
Page | 7
26. How is density of an object related to its floating or sinking?

Answer: An object will only float if its density is less than that of the
surrounding liquid. It will sink if its density is greater than that of the
surrounding liquid.

27. Give one example of each of a combustible liquid, gas and solid.

Answer: Petrol is a combustible liquid, CNG is a combustible gas and paper

is a combustible solid

28. Why do you think oxygen dissolved in water is important for the
survival of aquatic animals and plants?

Answer: Dissolved oxygen is available for animals and plants for respiration
and survival.

29. A solid is put in a bucket of water. It floats just below the surface
of the water. What do you think is the density of the object with
relation to the density of water?

Answer: The density of the solid and water is same because solid neither
sinks nor floats on water.

30. Water and starch are mixed in a container. What kind of solution
will we get?

Answer: When little amount of starch is added it will dissolve in water. But
as the amount of starch increases, the solution starts thickening and forms
a suspension.

Long Answer Type Questions

PREPARED BY Saurabh Gupta (DHINGRA CLASSES)

1. ‘Grouping of objects helps the shopkeeper.’ Justify the statement.

Answer: Proper grouping of objects helps shopkeeper in the following

ways:
(i) He can locate the required object easily and quickly. Page | 8
(ii) He can easily come to know what stocks are going to finish and he
should purchase them for his customers.

2. Describe an experiment to prove that water is transparent.

Answer: Take a beaker half-filled with clean water. Put a coin in beaker of
water.
Place the beaker undisturbed for a few minutes where enough light is
present. Now, observe the coin immersed in water from the top of the
beaker. Are you able to see the coin? You can clearly see the coin immersed
in water. This proves that water is a transparent liquid.

3. Write an experiment to show that our palm is translucent.

Answer: Cover the glass of a torch with your palm at a dark place. Switch
on the torch and observe from the other side of palm. We see that the light
of torch passes through palm but not clearly. This experiment shows that
our palm becomes translucent when a strong beam of light passes through
it.

4. Write any four properties of materials.

Answer:
(a) Appearance
(b) Hardness
(c) Solubility
(d) Float or sink in water
(e) Transparency

5. Why is a tumbler not made with a piece of cloth?

Answer: We use tumblers made of glass, plastic and metal to keep a liquid.
These substances can hold a liquid.
A tumbler made of cloth cannot hold a liquid because:

PREPARED BY Saurabh Gupta (DHINGRA CLASSES)

(i) Cloth piece is not hard enough to hold liquids and
(ii) Cloth piece has very minute pores through which the liquid oozes out.

6. Define soluble, insoluble substances and solubility.

Page | 9
Answer: The substances which dissolves in water are called soluble
substances. For example: Salt, sugar, milk, etc. The substances which do not
dissolve in water are called insoluble substances. For example: Chalk
powder, sand, stone, etc. The property of substance due to which it
dissolves in water is called solubility.

7. Chalk, iron nail, wood, aluminium, candle, cotton usually look

different from
each other. Give some properties by which we can prove that these
materials are
different.

Answer: The given materials can be differentiated on the basis of lustre,

hardness, softness, roughness or smoothness.

Lustre Hardness Softness Roughness Smoothness

Chalk ✓ ✓

Iron nail ✓ ✓ ✓

Wood ✓ ✓

Aluminium ✓ ✓ ✓

Candle ✓ ✓ ✓

Cotton ✓ ✓

8. Differentiate among opaque, translucent and transparent materials,

giving one example of each.

Answer:

Translucent
Opaque materials Transparent materials
materials

PREPARED BY Saurabh Gupta (DHINGRA CLASSES)

 Objects can be
Objects cannot be seen Objects can be seen
partially seen through
through them clearly through them
them

Example: Cardboard Example: Oiled paper Example: Hand lens

Page | 10
9. How can materials be grouped together? In what ways do we
classify materials?

Answer: Different materials have different properties. Materials with similar

properties can be grouped together.
Different types of materials can be grouped based on any of the following
properties:

• Appearance
• Solubility
• Transparency
• Conductivity
• Combustibility—Easily burn or not.
• Attraction towards magnet.
10: According to the property of hardness, how would you
differentiate whether the object is soft or hard? Justify your answer.

Answer: When you press different materials with your hands, some of them
may be hard to compress while others can be easily compressed. Take a
metal key and try to scratch with it, the surface of a piece of wood,
aluminium, a piece of stone, a nail, candle, chalk, any other material or
object. You can easily scratch some materials, while some cannot be
scratched so easily. Materials which can be compressed or scratched easily
are called “soft” while some other materials which are difficult to compress
are called “hard”. For example, cotton or sponge is soft while iron is hard.

11: How does appearance of objects help us to make sort out of

different materials? Show with an activity.

Answer: Collect small pieces of different materials – paper, cardboard,

wood, copper wire, aluminium sheet, chalk. Separate the shiny materials
into a group. Now, cuts each material into two pieces and look at the
freshly cut surface. Some of these materials are appear shiny. Include these
objects also in the group of shiny materials. Instead of cutting, you can rub

PREPARED BY Saurabh Gupta (DHINGRA CLASSES)

the surface of material with sand paper to see if it has lustre. Materials that
have such lustre are usually metals. Iron, copper, aluminium and gold are
examples of metals. Therefore, we can differentiate the materials, according
to the lustre
Page | 11

PREPARED BY Saurabh Gupta (DHINGRA CLASSES)