Science & tech

by
Ankit Tiwari

Ankit.Tiwari@studyiq.com

ankit_tiwari_cse
 • 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
 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.
 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
 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.
Changes Around us