Question

How do you think chemistry and clothing are related?

Answer 1

Relation between chemistry and clothing:

Chemistry has provided solutions to the various day-to-day problems of human beings. This is also true when it comes to covering our bodies.

• Early man used to use leaves of trees and skin of dead animals to cover their body.
• But as man became more cultured and civilised, he shifted to fibres obtained from plants and animals.

Fibres: Fibres are long, thin, and flexible thread-like structures that are spun into yarns and then used as fabrics.

Natural fibres: Natural fibres are the fibres that are obtained from nature i.e.; plants and animals.

1. Plant fibres: The fibres that are obtained from the plants. Examples: Cotton (obtained from the cotton plant), and Jute (obtained from the outer layer of the stem of the jute plant).
2. Animal fibres: The fibres that are obtained from the animals. Examples: Wool (obtained from certain breeds of sheep), Silk (obtained from silkworms)

• With the advancements in chemistry, man developed synthetic fibres and was no longer dependent on plants and animals.
• Synthetic fibres were developed and they became a great alternative in the clothing industry. These are cheaper and made clothing affordable for the masses.

Synthetic fibres: Synthetic fibres are man-made fibres.

• They are prepared from raw materials called petrochemicals.
• They are formed from a polymer (poly means many; mer means units) which is made from many repeating units known as monomers (mono means single; mer means unit).
• Examples:

1. Nylon (made from a polymer of adipic acid and hexamethylene diamine)
2. Terylene (made from a polymer of ethylene glycol and terephthalic acid)

The benefits of synthetic fibres are:

• Durable i.e.; long-lasting.
• Wrinkle resistant i.e.; they do not develop wrinkles easily.
• Dry faster than natural fibres
• Easy to handle.

Disadvantages of synthetic fibres are:

• Catch fire quickly

Thus chemistry has made clothing affordable, provided us with a great variety of clothing, and has affected the quality of our lives daily.