The clothes which we wear are made up of fabrics. Fabrics are made up of fibers. Depending upon the sources, the fibers are classified into two types, namely, Natural fibers and Synthetic fibers.

Natural fibers: Natural fibers are fibers that are obtained from plants and animals. For e.g. cotton from plants, wool, and silk from animals.

Synthetic fibers: The fibers made by human beings are called synthetic fibers or man-made fibers. For .e.g. Nylon, Polyester, Rayon, etc. Synthetic fiber is a chain of small units joined together. These units are chemical substances and are also called monomers.

Many monomers combine to form a large single unit called a �Polymer�. Poly means many and �mer� means units So, a polymer is made up of many repeating units. Cotton is a natural polymer of glucose, called Cellulose.

Types of Synthetic Fibers:

Acrylic

We use sweaters, shawls, and blankets during the winter season which are made up of wool. Wool is obtained from natural fiber, which is quite expensive, so these are prepared from a synthetic fiber called Acrylic which resembles wool. Synthetic fibers are more durable and affordable and therefore are very popular.

Nylon

Another man-made fiber is Nylon. It is made from chemicals, without using natural raw materials. It is strong, elastic, light, lustrous, and easy to wash.

So, it is very popular. There are many useful products made from nylon, such as:- Socks, ropes, tents, toothbrushes, seat belts of cars, sleeping bags, curtains, parachutes, ropes for climbing and many more.

Polyester

Another synthetic fiber is polyester which is made up of repeating units of Ester. Two examples of polyester are:

• Terylene
• PET

Terylene is a popular polyester and can be woven into fine fibers. PET is a very common form of polyester and is generally used for making bottles, utensils, films, wires, etc. We all prefer to wear synthetic fibers- suits, shirts, trousers, saris, etc. Why? What are the unique characteristics of these fibers which make them so useful and popular dress material?

Characteristics of synthetic fibers

Let us learn some characteristics of synthetic fibres:

1. The synthetic fibers dry up quickly
2. They are durable and strong
3. Less expensive
4. Easy to maintain
5. They soak less water.

Let us learn through the activity

• Take two water troughs, put same amount of water in both and now put piece of cotton cloth in one bowl and piece of the synthetic fabric of same size in the other bowl . Remove both the fabrics from the bowls after 5 minutes and spread them to dry, you will observe
• Water level in bowl in which the piece of cotton cloth was put has reduced more than in the other bowl which has synthetic fabric.
• And synthetic fabric dry up quickly which proves that synthetic fibers soak less water and dry up quickly. This is the reason we make umbrellas using synthetic fibers.

Read More- Wool Fibre: Wool Yielding Animals and Processing Fibres into Wool