Download Chapter 6 Vocabulary - Effingham County Schools

Chapter 6 Vocabulary
1. Fibers – usually made up of many filaments twisted or bonded together to form a thread or yarn
2. Textiles – fabrics woven in a distinctive pattern (although bonded textiles, such as felt, lack a
pattern)
3. Generic – related to an entire group or class of products; not having a brand name
4. Fabric – in this context, a cloth material made up of fibers woven or bonded together in a
distinctive manner
5. Filaments – single strands of material, usually twisted with other filaments to make a thread or
fiber
6. Inorganic – refers to substances not composed primarily of hydrocarbons, that is, carbon and
hydrogen. Examples of inorganic fibers are asbestos and fiberglass. Inorganic is the opposite of
organic.
7. Yarn – a continuous strand off fibers or filaments, either twisted or not
8. Warp – the lengthwise yarn or thread in a weave
9. Weft or woof- the crosswise yarn or thread in a weave
10. Blend – a fabric made up of two or more different types of fiber, usually as warp or weft
11. Polypeptide – a biochemical polymer formed by linking amino acids; the longer chains are called
proteins
12. Helix – a spiral arrangement, like a corkscrew, of a long-chain molecule
13. Keratin – the main protein in all animal hair, including human hair
14. Plastics – substances that flow under heat and pressure and can, therefore, be molded into
various shapes. All plastics are polymers, but not polymers are plastics.
15. Catalyst – a small amount of a substance that increases the rate of a reaction without being
used up in the process
16. Viscosity – the resistance of a fluid to flow. Water has a low viscosity relative to syrup. Heating
generally lowers the viscosity of a liquid.
17. Homopolymers – polymers made up of one type of repeating unit. Each is made from one
monomer only.
18. Polyethers – a series of carbon atoms connected by oxygen atoms.
19. Density – a physical property of matter. Mass of an object divided by the volume of the object
20. Becke line – a halolike shadow appearing around an object immersed in a liquid of a different
refractive index
21. Optical brighteners – colorless dyes that cause blue light to be reflected, thereby making an
object look whiter
22. Chromatography – a method of separating components of mixtures based on preferential
adsorption or partitioning of components in a gas, liquid, or solution. In paper chromatography,
the cellulose of the paper acts as the adsorbing medium. In thin-layer chromatography (TLC),
the silica gel or alumina selectively adsorbs the components of the mixture. The word
chromatography is derived from the Greek chroma, color, and graphe, writing.
23. Chromatogram – the record of chromatographic separation
24. Elute – to extract one material from another, usually by means of a solvent
25. Retention factor – a ratio used to characterize and compare components of samples in liquid
chromatography