NCERT science

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 NCERT science

Fibre to Fabric
• The thin strands of thread that we see, are made up of still thinner strands called fibres.
• Fabrics are made up of yarns and yarns are further made up of fibres

Where do these fibres come from?

• The fibres of some fabrics such as cotton, jute, silk and wool are obtained from plants
• and animals. These are called natural fibres.
• Cotton and jute are examples of fibres obtained from plants. Wool and silk fibres are obtained
from animals.
• Wool is obtained from the sheep or goat. It is also
obtained from the hair of rabbits,
• yak and camels.
• Silk fibre is drawn from the cocoon of silkworm.
• Substances, which are not obtained from plant or
animal sources. These are called synthetic fibres.
• Some examples of synthetic fibres are polyester, nylon
and acrylic
• Cotton plants are usually grown at places having black
soil and warm climate
• The fruits of the cotton plant (cotton bolls) are about
the size of a lemon.
• After maturing, the bolls burst open and the seeds
covered with cotton fibres can be seen.
• From these bolls, cotton is usually picked by
hand.
• Fibres are then separated from the seeds by
combing. This process is called ginning of cotton.
Ginning was traditionally done by hand, but these
days machines are also used for ginning.

• Jute fibre is obtained from the stem of the jute plant.

• It is cultivated during the rainy season.
• In India, jute is mainly grown in West Bengal, Bihar and Assam.
• The jute plant is normally harvested when it is at flowering stage.
• The stems of the harvested plants are immersed in water for a
few days.
• The stems rot and fibres are separated by hand

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SPINNING COTTON YARN

• The process of making yarn from fibres is called
spinning.
• In this process, fibres from a mass of cotton wool are
drawn out and twisted.
• This brings the fibres together to form a yarn.
• A simple device used for spinning is a hand spindle,
also called takli.
• Another hand operated device used for spinning is
charkha
• To popularise and promote khadi, the Government of
India constituted a body called Khadi and Village
Industries Commission in 1956.
• Spinning of yarn on a large scale is done with the help
of spinning machines. After spinning, yarns are used
for making fabrics.

YARN TO FABRIC
• There are many ways by which fabrics are made from yarns.
• The two main processes are weaving and knitting.
• The process of arranging two sets of yarns together to
make a fabric is called weaving.
• Weaving of fabric is done on looms.
• The looms are either hand operated or power operated.
• In knitting, a single yarn is used to make a piece of fabric
Knitting is done by hand and also on machines.

HISTORY OF CLOTHING MATERIAL

• After people began to settle in agricultural communities, they learnt to weave twigs and grass
into mats and baskets. Vines, animal fleece or hair were twisted together into long strands. These
were woven into fabrics.
• The early Indians wore fabrics made out of cotton that grew in the regions near the river Ganga.
• Flaxs also a plant that gives natural fibres. In ancient Egypt, cotton as well as flax were cultivated
near the river Nile and were used for making fabrics. In those days, stitching was not known.
• With the invention of the sewing needle, people started stitching fabrics to make
clothes.

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Sorting Materials into Groups

PROPERTIES OF MATERIALS
Appearance: Materials that have such lustre are usually metals. Iron, copper, aluminium and gold are
examples of metals. Some metals often lose their shine and appear dull, because of the action of air
and moisture on them.
• Hardness: 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.

Soluble or Insoluble?
• Some gases are soluble in water whereas others are not.
• Water, usually, has small quantities of some gases dissolved in it. For example, oxygen gas
dissolved in water is very important for the survival of animals and plants that live in water.
• Objects may float or sink in water
• Transparency: Those substances or materials, through which things can be seen, are called
transparent. Glass, water, air and some plastics are examples of transparent materials.
• There are some materials through which you are not able to see. These materials are called
opaque. Wood, cardboard and metals, are examples of opaque materials.
• The materials through which objects can be seen, but not clearly, are known as translucent. The
oily patch on paper when we tested food items for presence of fats.
• Dividing materials in groups makes it convenient to study their properties and also observe any
patterns in these properties

Separation of Substances

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METHODS OF SEPARATION
• Method of handpicking can be used for
separating slightly larger sized impurities like the
pieces of dirt, stone, and husk from wheat, rice or
pulses.
• The process that is used to separate grain from
stalks etc. is threshing. In this process, the stalks
are beaten to free the grain seeds.
• The method of separating components of a
mixture is called winnowing. Winnowing is used
to separate heavier and lighter components of a
mixture by wind or by blowing air.
• This method is commonly used by farmers to
separate lighter husk particles from heavier
seeds of grain.
• The husk particles are carried away by the wind.
The seeds of grain get separated and form a heap near the platform for winnowing.
• The separated husk is used for many purposes such as fodder for cattles.
• Sieving allows the fine flour particles to pass through
the holes of the sieve while the bigger impurities remain
on the sieve.
• In a flour mill, impurities like husk and stones are
removed from wheat before grinding it.
• Usually, a bagful of wheat is poured on a slanting
sieve.
• The sieving removes pieces of stones, stalk and husk
that may still remain with wheat after threshing and
winnowing.

• When the heavier component in a mixture settles after water is added to it, the process is
called sedimentation.
• When the water (along with the dust) is removed, the process is called decantation
• The same principle is used for separating a mixture of two liquids that do not mix with each
other The process of filtration
• The process of conversion of water into its vapour is called evaporation. The process of
evaporation takes place continuously wherever water is present
• When sea water is allowed to stand in shallow pits, water gets heated by sunlight and slowly
turns into water vapour, through evaporation. In a few days, the water evaporates completely
leaving behind the solid salts.
• Common salt is then obtained from this mixture of salts by further purification.
• The process of conversion of water vapour into its liquid form is called condensation
• When no more salt can be dissolved in the amount of water, the solution is now said to be
saturated.

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Changes Around us

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