Chemistry in Clothes & Meds
See how chemistry makes medicines and synthetic fabrics.
What this lesson covers
Why it matters
Check the label on your shirt. 'Cotton' grew in a field; 'polyester' was built in a factory from chemistry — engineered to shrug off water and wrinkles.
Predict first
Why use synthetic fibres like nylon instead of cotton for a raincoat?
Synthetic materials — and most medicines — are made by chemistry and engineered for useful properties such as water resistance, strength, or fighting infection.
- Synthetic fibres are grown more cheaply
- They are engineered to be water-resistant and strong — correct
- Cotton is too expensive to produce
What you do
Sort each material: did it come from nature, or was it built by chemistry?
Check yourself
Which of these fibres is synthetic?
Nylon is made in a factory; cotton, wool and silk grow in nature.
Synthetic materials are made by…
Chemistry transforms raw materials (often from crude oil) into engineered synthetics.
Why are medicines a triumph of chemistry?
Chemists design precise molecules that act on the body in known ways.
- Nylon — correct
- Cotton
- Wool
- chemically processing raw materials — correct
- harvesting them from plants
- digging them up whole
- They are synthesised to target specific diseases — correct
- They are random herbs mixed together
- They grow ready-made on trees