What is the Need for Sorting Materials into Groups?
In everyday life, we often group materials for our convenience. For instance, at home, we usually store things in such a manner that similar objects are placed together. Such an arrangement helps us to locate them easily.
Also, dividing materials in groups makes it convenient to study their properties and observe any patterns in these properties.
Which parameters are used to sort various materials into groups?
There are several parameters to classify and categorise materials. Few of them are:
- Appearance
- Nature
- Solubility
- Ability to sink or float in water
- Ability to pass light
How can we classify materials based on appearance?
Appearance is how we see the material. On the basis of appearance, we can categorise materials as Rough, Smooth, Shiny and Non-shiny.
For example, the vessels in our kitchen are usually shiny. They are very smooth in appearance. Here we can say vessels are shiny and smooth.
The table and cupboard in our rooms are not really shiny, but they are smooth to a certain extent. Here we can say these furnitures are non-shiny but are smooth.
A stone on the street appears to be rough and it does not shine. Here we can say that a stone is rough and non-shiny.
It is very rare that we come across a material that is rough but looks shiny. This is one type of categorising the materials into groups based on appearance.