Chapter 11 Plant Fibers Flashcards
Name 3 things in this classroom that are made from plants
Pencil, paper, table
What is a fiber?
A thread or a filament from a plant tissue
What is phloem tissue?
Plant tissue that conducts the transport of food throughout the plant
What is wood?
A hard fibrous material that forms the main substance of the trunk or branches of a tree or shrubs, used for fuel and timber
What is xylem tissue?
Plant tissue that transports water and dissolved minerals throughout the plant
What makes fibers a white color?
Cellulose
What are Sclerenchyma fiber cells?
Elongated thick walled, dead plant cells
What makes fibers a brown color?
Lignin
What method do they use to extract cotton fibers from the cotton plant?
Ginning
What is Ginning?
The process of removing seed fibers. Derived from the word engine, “gin” means machine
What are the 3 stages of extracting fibers from stems?
Retting, Scutching, Hackling
What is retting?
The first process after harvesting a plant to extract the plant fiber. Workers soak the plant stems in water for a period of time until all of the unwanted plant material has decayed.
What is Scutching?
The process after retting. This is the beating and scraping of the fibers to remove the remaining unwanted tissue, such as xylem, which adheres to the fibers.
What is Hackling?
The process of aligning the separate fibers in vertical pins to detangle them.
What process is used to extract fibers from leaves?
Decorticating
What is decorticating?
A method used for leaf fibers. Workers crush the fleshy leaf material and scrape the non-fibrous materials.
What are the 3 main plants we get surface fibers from?
Coconut, Cotton, Kapok
Coconut is in what family?
Palm Family, Arecaceae
What process do they use to extract coconut fibers from the fruit?
Retting
How long do they Rett coconuts?
10 months
Name 2 things coconut fibers can be used for
Rope, brooms
Give the common name for the cotton that is native to India and Pakistan
Tree cotton
Give the common name for the cotton that is native to Africa and Arabia
Levant cotton
Give one common name for the cotton that is native to the Americas, this cotton also makes up 90% of the worlds cotton
West Indian cotton
Give one common name for the cotton that is native to the Americas, this cotton provides the finest quality cotton threads and is popular in Egypt
Sea Island cotton
Which to cottons are from the old world?
Levant cotton, Tree cotton
Which to cottons are from the new world?
West Indian cotton, Sea Island cotton
What is a Staple?
Cotton hairs
What is the difference between Linter and Lint?
Linter- short, thick hairs, hard to pull off the seed
Lint- long, short hairs, easily detached from the seed
Who invented the cotton gin?
Eli Whitney
What did the cotton gin begin?
The beginning of the Industrial Revolution
How many pairs of jeans can you get from one bale of cotton?
325
Which spikey tree provides surface fibers?
Kapok
What are Bast fibers?
Soft fibers derived from thick-walled phloem cells they may range from six to fifteen feet long
What are the 3 Bast fibers we talked about in class?
Jute, Linen, Hemp
Which is the second most produced fiber in the world? This is a type of Bast fiber
Jute
Give one example of something made of Jute fiber
Canvases
What fiber did Egyptians wrap their mummies in?
Linen
Is linen strong?
Yes
Give on example of something made of linen
Mail bags
Why is linen so expensive?
The extraction method requires manual labor
Which fiber makes up the Declaration of Independence?
Hemp
What are Hard fibers?
Fibers extracted from the leaves of certain plants with parallel veins (leaf fibers)
What are the 2 hard fibers we talked about in class?
Sisal, Abaca
Which fiber is extracted from the Agave leaves?
Sisal
Which fiber is extracted from the banana plant?
Abaca
Name two items made from banana fibers
Tea bags, coffee filters
