Search results
Results from the WOW.Com Content Network
Wool is the textile fiber obtained from sheep and other mammals, especially goats, rabbits, and camelids. [1] The term may also refer to inorganic materials, such as mineral wool and glass wool, that have some properties similar to animal wool. As an animal fiber, wool consists of protein together with a small percentage of lipids. This makes ...
Cellulose inside plants is one of the examples of non-protein compounds that are using this term with the same purpose. Cellulose microfibrils are laid down in the inner surface of the primary cell wall. As the cell absorbs water, its volume increases and the existing microfibrils separate and new ones are formed to help increase cell strength.
Rayon is a manufactured fiber derived from plant pulp. [85] Different types of rayon can imitate feel and texture of silk, cotton, wool, or linen. Fibers from the stalks of plants, such as hemp, flax, and nettles, are also known as 'bast' fibers. Hemp fiber is yellowish-brown fiber made from the hemp plant.
Not all animal fibers have the same properties, and even within a species the fiber is not consistent. Merino is a very soft, fine wool, while Cotswold is coarser, and yet both Merino and Cotswold are types of sheep. This comparison can be continued on the microscopic level, comparing the diameter and structure of the fiber.
Natural fibers are composed by microfibrils of cellulose in a matrix of hemicellulose and lignin. This type of structure and the chemical composition of them is responsible for the mechanical properties that can be observed. Because the natural fibers make hydrogen bonds between the long chains, they have the necessary stiffness and strength.
Textile fibers come in a variety of shapes and forms. The fiber shape of synthetic fibers is controlled with a device spinneret during manufacturing (extrusion) process, whereas natural fibers conceive their shape with a variety of factors such as cellulose built up in plant fibers, and in silk, the shape of orifice from where the silk fibers are extruded.
The reproductive structures are more varied, and are usually specific to a particular group of plants, such as flowers and seeds, fern sori, and moss capsules. The detailed study of reproductive structures in plants led to the discovery of the alternation of generations found in all plants and most algae.
Celosia (/ s iː ˈ l oʊ ʃ i ə / see-LOH-shee-ə [2]) is a small genus of edible and ornamental plants in the amaranth family, Amaranthaceae. Its species are commonly known as woolflowers, or, if the flower heads are crested by fasciation, cockscombs. [3] The plants are well known in East Africa's highlands and are used under their Swahili ...