wool_exploring the science of every day material

8/12/2019 Wool_Exploring the Science of Every Day Material

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WoolElectronic book published by ipicturebooks.com24 W. 25th St.

New York, NY 10010For more ebooks, visit us at:

http://www.ipicturebooks.com

All rights reservedText copyright 2000 Nicola Edwards and Jane HarrisPhotographs copyright 2000 Julian Cornish-Trestrail

No part of this book may be reproduced or transmittedin any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical,

including photocopying, recording, or by anyinformation storage and retrieval system, without

permission in writing from the publisher.

e-ISBN 1-59019-857-3Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data is available

ISBN 0-7136-5348-5
http://www.ipicturebooks.com/http://www.ipicturebooks.com/


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Exploring the scienceof everyday materials

Nicola Edwards andJane Harris

Photographs byJulian Cornish-Trestrai l


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Look atthese thingsweve collected.

Theyare all madefrom wool.


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Even the tipof my colouring

pen is made

from wool.


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Most wool comes from sheep.Its the sheeps springy coat.

This israw wool. Its

a bit greasy.


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Were looking at some sheeps wool through a magnifying glass.

Can yousee lots ofcurly hairs?


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Sheep are shornonce a year.Their wool coatsare washed anddried, then

combed toremove thetangles.

Dont worry,it doesnt hurt!


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This wool has been dyed blue.A machine is twisting it intolong pieces of thread.


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Look at all these balls of wool. Theyhave been dyed differentcolours and some threadsare thicker than others.

Im choosing

a dark-colouredball.

Im choosinga light-coloured

ball.


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I feel cold, so

Im putting on awoollen jumper.

It feels a bitrough on my skin.


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My scarf issofter thanthe jumper.

It feels warmand smooth.


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Wool is stretchy.

and when I

let go, it springsback into place!

I can pull it out


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Im stretching my jumper and looking at it closely.

I can seeall the threads

of wool.


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Woollen clothes keep us warm.The tiny hairs in the woolhelp stop the heatescaping fromour bodies.

I feel really snugand warm.


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Weve just been outsidein the rain. My woollen

jumper feels damp onthe outside but Imstill dry underneath.

Damp wool smellsa bit funny.


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My T-shirt is notmade from wool.The rain hassoaked through.

Yuk! I feelcold and wet.


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Im washing my woollengloves carefully.If the water istoo hot, mygloves will

shrink!

The woolsoaks upthe water.

The glovesfeel heavy.


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My glovesare clean anddry now.

Theyremuch lighter.


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Felt is made of woolthat has been rolledand pressed togetherto make it at.

This piece of felthas been burnt,but it didntcatch re.

I can see theburnt hairs throughthe magnifying glass.


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Fire ghters uniforms used to contain a special felt.

The felthelped protect

re ghters fromthe ames.


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What shall we do with theseold jumpers? The wool is stillas good as new.


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Lets unpick thewool so that we can

use it again.

My grancan knit me a new

pair of socks!


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The aim of the Science Explorers series is to introduce children to ways

of observing and classifying materials, so that they can discover thevarious properties which make them suitable for a range of uses.By talking about what they already know about materials from theireveryday use of different objects, the children will gain con dencein making predictions about how a material will behave in differentcircumstances. Through their explorations, the children will beable to try out their ideas in a fair test.

Notes for parents and teachers

pp 23

Wool was rst used for clothing thousands of yearsago. In 4,000 BC people began to make cloth fromwool by matting the wool together and spinning itinto thread. The Romans made togas out of ne wool.By the beginning of the fourteenth century, wool wasan important source of wealth in Britain.

Wool is chie y used to make clothing, but ask thechildren to look for other things that can be madeof wool, for example, carpets, paint rollers, slippers,tennis balls and curtains.

pp 45

Wool is a bre that comes from the eece of sheepand other animals including goats (mohair and

cashmere), rabbits (angora) and llama (alpaca).The bres grow like hair from roots in the skin andhave a natural waviness or crimp. The hairs arecovered with tiny scales and with a natural greasycoating, called lanolin. Show the children a pictureof a magni ed wool bre so that they can see thescaly coating. Make sure the children always wearprotective gloves when handling raw wool.

pp 67

A sheeps coat, the eece, is shorn in spring orsummer. The eeces are washed to remove seeds,mud, dung and lanolin. Then the wool is dried and fedthrough a carding machine, which combs the wool sothat all the bres are pointing in the same direction.This turns the wool into a at mat which is cut into

narrow strips. Spinning machines twist the strips intoyarn. The children could try carding some wool usinga comb or a hairbrush.

pp 89

Wool is highly absorbent, making it easy to dye.Usually it is dyed before being knitted or woven. Yarncan be knitted and woven by hand or by machine. The

children could try out some simple knitting or weaving.pp 1014

The type and quality of wool can make it feel verydifferent some wool feels soft and smooth againstthe skin, while other types feel itchy and scratchy. Thechildren could compare garments made from differenttypes of wool, for example, a lambswool sweater andan Arran sweater. Wool is stretchy and springybecause of its natural crimp.


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p 15

Pockets of air trapped between the wool bres stopthe heat escaping from our bodies. By looking ata knitted garment through a magnifying glass, thechildren will be able to see the individual bres,helping them to understand how wool insulates.

pp 1619

Give the children a selection of woollen clothes andother garments made from arti cial bres. See if theycan work out which are made from wool and whichare not. Do the clothes feel and smell different? The

children could test them for stretchiness, strength andabsorbency. Wool is water resistant and will hold alot of moisture before feeling damp, which is why woolcoats help sheep to stay dry in the rain. Wool needsto be washed with care because the overlapping scalescan cause wool to shrink and mat together if washedin hot soapy water.

pp 2021

Felt is matted wool. Until the early 1990s, wool wasused in re ghters uniforms because it does notcontinue to burn when removed from a ame. Canthe children think of any other people who would needto wear similar protective clothing for their work?

pp 2223

Wool is very durable and hard-wearing. Today thereare many arti cial alternatives to wool, includingacrylic, nylon and polyester. Sometimes these areblended with wool. Arti cial bres are cheaper tomake, but they lack many of wools special qualities.The children could look at the labels of a selectionof clothes and make a list of the different materials.

Find the pageHere are some of the wordsand ideas in this book.

colouring pen 3

damp wool 16

describing wool 4, 5, 10, 11, 12,13, 14

felt 20, 21

re ghters uniforms 21

knitting 9, 23

recycling wool 23rough wool 10

sheep 4, 5, 6

soft wool 11

stretching wool 12, 13, 14

washing wool 18, 19

woollen clothes 9, 10, 11, 12,13, 15, 16, 22, 23

wool_exploring the science of every day material

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