Question

Why do we wear cotton clothes in summer?
(A) Cotton is a bad conductor of heat and doesn’t allow passage of warmer air near the body.
(B) Cotton is a good conductor of heat and allows body heat to escape in the atmosphere.
(C) Cotton absorbs sweat from the body, exposing it to the atmosphere for easy evaporation.
(D) None of the above.

Answer 1

Hint:We are asked the reason for wearing cotton clothes in summer. From the above given options, you are supposed to find the correct one and give a reason why it is so. In order to proceed, you consider the properties of cotton as well consider what exactly cotton is. Also consider how the clothes of cotton are.

Complete answer:
First, let us see what cotton is. Cotton is cellulose which is a natural polymer. Cellulose are carbohydrates and the molecule is a long chain of glucose molecules. The negatively charged group attracts the water molecules. In this way, if you have a sheet of cotton, the water can be absorbed by the cotton. So, cotton can readily absorb water.

So far, we have learned that cotton is a good absorber. Now, let us come back to our question. In summer, the temperature of the atmosphere is quite high compared to the rest of the seasons. Our body (human body) is such that it tries to maintain the internal body temperature in a certain range.

If the body is exposed to high temperature as in summer, the body works in order to keep the body cool and the way by which it achieves this work is by sweating. So, if we wear cotton clothes in summer, we sweat, the sweat is absorbed by the cotton cloth. After absorbing it, the sweat is exposed to the atmosphere and eventually it evaporates. So, to keep our body cool and making the process of maintaining the body cool, we wear cotton clothes in summer.

Hence, we wear cotton clothes in summer because cotton absorbs sweat from the body, exposing it to the atmosphere for easy evaporation.Option C is correct.

Note: Remember that the cotton is a cellulose. Also keep in mind that the reason why cotton is a good absorber is the negative charges present which attract the water molecules and also due to large space available so that water can reside there. Also keep in mind how we sweat and how sweating helps to keep our body cool because that is the reason we wear cotton clothes.