Class 6 Science Chapter 3 Important Notes

Science

#Class 6 Science Chapter 3 Important Notes. #Class 6 Science Chapter 3 Fibre to Fabric

What is Fibre?

A very thin thread-like strand from which cloth is made is called fibre. Fibres can be broadly classified into two broad categories:

Types of Fibre

  1. Natural Fibres
    Fibres that come from plants and animals i.e. are found in nature are called Natural Fibres.

    Examples: Jute, Cotton, Silk etc.
    Jute and Cotton from plants.
    Wool from goat or sheep, yak, rabbits and camels.
    Silk fibre from the cocoon of silkworms.

  2. Synthetic Fibres
    Fibres that are made of chemical substances i.e. substances not found directly in nature are classified as synthetic fibres.

    Examples: Nylon, Acrylic and Polyester.

Natural Fibre vs Synthetic Fibre

Natural FibreSynthetic Fibre
Natural fibres are fibers that are found in nature.

Ex: Wool, Silk and Cotton, etc.		These fibres are man made or simply prepared in lab.

Ex: Nylon, Polyester, Teflon, Acrylic, etc.
They are good absorbents.
Able to absorb heat, temperature, cold, sweat etc. depending on conditions and nature of fibres.		They do not have such pores as they are made up of chemical and so do not act as good asorbents.
No spinning process is required for filament production.Melting, wet or dry spinning processes are used for filament production.
Comfortable in use.Not as comfortable as natural fibres.
Their length is naturally obtained and it is not possible to change the fibre structure.Their lengths can be controlled by man and the fibres can easily be changed to different structures.

Plant Fibres – Natural Fibres

Cotton

Class 6 Science Chapter 3 Important Notes
A Cotton Plant. Image Credit: wikipedia.org

Cotton plants are grown in fields usually at places having a warm climate and black soil.

Cotton plants bear fruits the size of a lemon called Cotton Balls which burst open upon maturing and the seeds wrapped up in cotton fibre become visible. Cotton is generally picked by hand from these balls.

Some cotton producing Indian states are Punjab, Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh, Karnataka, Maharashtra etc.

Jute

  • Jute fibre is obtained from the stem of the plant.
  • Unlike cotton, jute is cultivated in the rainy season.
  • Some jute producing Indian states are Bihar, Assam and West Bengal.
  • The plant is harvested during its flowering stage.
  • The stems of these harvested plants are then soaked in water for four to five days
  • The stems are left to rot and then the fibres are picked out by hand.
Class 6 Science Chapter 3 Important Notes
A Jute field from Bangladesh.
Image By Malcolm Manners from Lakeland FL, USA
Class 6 Science Chapter 3 Important Notes
Fibre extracted from the stems.
Image By Auyon – Own work, CC BY-SA 3.0

#Class 6 Science Chapter 3 Important Notes

What is Yarn?

Class 6 Science Chapter 3 Important Notes
Image by OpenClipart-Vectors from Pixabay 
  • All these fibres are first converted into yarns.
  • Yarn is a long, twisted and continuous strand.
  • Yarn is made of interlocked fibres or filaments.
  • Yarn is used in knitting and weaving to fabric (cloth).
Class 6 Science Chapter 3 Important Notes

Cotton Fibre to Fabric

Step 1 – Ginning

Ginning of cotton is the process of separating cotton fibres from cotton seeds.

Traditionally, ginning used to be done by hand but these days machines called double roller cotton ginning machines are widely in use.

Step 2 – Spinning Cotton Yarn

Spinning is the process of making yarn (thread) from fibres.

Cotton fibres are combined and twisted together to form a yarn.

There are two major hand operated devices used for spinning.
(1) Takli
(2) Charkha

And Spinning machines are used make yarn on a large scale.

Khadi was the term used to denote clothes which were made from homespun yarn.

Step 3 – Yarn to Fabric

There are two major ways of converting Yarn into fabric, namely, Weaving and Knitting.

  • Weaving: The process of entwining two sets of yarn simultaneously to make fabric is called Weaving. The process is done using a loom (which can either be operated by hand or by a machine) which interlaces two sets of yarn at right angles to each other.

    Hand operated looms are called Handlooms.
  • Knitting: Knitting is the process by which a single strand of yarn is used to make a piece of fabric. Socks, sweaters, mufflers and a lot of other winter clothes are made of knitted fabrics. Knitting can be done by hand as well as by machines.

#Class 6 Science Chapter 3 Important Notes

History of Clothing Material

  • In earlier times, when people did not have access or the knowledge to process fibre, big leaves and the bark of trees were used by people to cover themselves.
  • After settlement began in agricultural communities, they learnt how to weave. They used grass and twigs to make mats and baskets. Animal hair or fleece and vines were warped together into stretched out strands which were then woven into fabrics.
  • There was an abundant growth of cotton in areas near Ganga, which the early Indians readily used to make fabrics for themselves.
  • There is another plant named flax which yields natural fibres.
  • The early Egyptians cultivated both cotton and flax and used them for creating fabrics. These plants grew near the river Nile.
  • But in those days, people were not aware of the process of stitching. They simply used to wrap around the fabric around different parts of their bodies. Even today unstitched clothes like sarees, dhotis, lungis or turbans are widely in use.
  • It was with the advent of the sewing needle that people learnt how to stitch fibres to make fabric.
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