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Science and Technology K–6 · Year 4

Which fabric soaks up the most water? Cotton, wool, polyester, nylon

Science understanding: Chemical sciences

PracticalLow risk

The idea

Natural and made fibres have different properties, and absorbency, measured as water held per gram of dry fabric, is one reason a towel is cotton and a raincoat is nylon.

What you need

  • 10 cm x 10 cm squares of cotton, wool, polyester, nylon and a cotton-polyester blend (check the labels)
  • kitchen balance reading to 0.1 g
  • a bowl of water at room temperature
  • tongs and a drip rack (a cake rack over a tray)
  • timer

How to do it

  1. Weigh each dry square and record the mass.
  2. Submerge one square for 30 seconds, lift it with tongs and hang it on the rack to drip for 60 seconds.
  3. Weigh the wet square and record the mass.
  4. Repeat for each fabric, three squares of each.
  5. Work out water held = wet mass minus dry mass, then absorbency = water held divided by dry mass (grams of water per gram of fabric).
  6. Graph absorbency for the five fabrics and match each to a use: towel, raincoat, sports shirt, jumper.

What you should see

Cotton holds more water per gram than tightly woven polyester or nylon, which shed water quickly on the rack; wool can take water up slowly at first because its fibre surface repels water, and the way a fabric is made (weave, knit, fleece) matters as well as the fibre. Absorbency is reported as grams of water per gram of fabric so squares of different thickness compare fairly. The ranking, not a published figure, is the result; a fabric whose three replicates differ by more than about 10 percent is retested.

What changes

What you change
fabric type
What you measure
grams of water held per gram of dry fabric
What you keep the same
  • square size
  • soak time
  • drip time
  • water temperature

Common misconceptions

Each of these ideas is wrong, and the activity is a chance to test it.

  • Thicker fabric always absorbs more (per gram, thickness is not the point; the fibre is).
  • Made fibres are always worse than natural ones.
  • Waterproof and non-absorbent mean the same thing.

Safety card

Low riskLearners carry it out

Hazards

  • spills

Controls

  • work over a tray

Note

Risk assessment before the lesson using Primary RiskAssess or the school's own template.

Curriculum references

The NSW syllabus outcomes and Australian Curriculum v9 codes this activity supports. They are references, not a verified or complete curriculum alignment.

  • Science and Technology K-6 Syllabus (2017), current, taught until 2026; code read from the syllabus document on 22 September 2026ST2-7MW-TST2-1WS-S
  • Science and Technology K-6 Syllabus (2024), implemented from 2027; NESA's timeline is 2026 plan and prepare and 2027 start teaching, and schools may choose to implement it during 2026; code read from the outcomes page on 22 September 2026ST2-DAT-01
  • Australian Curriculum v9AC9S4U04AC9S4H02AC9S4I02AC9S4I03AC9S4I04

Sources

The pages the author read to write this activity.

  1. www.scootle.edu.au/ec/search?accContentId=AC9S4U04
  2. curriculum.nsw.edu.au/learning-areas/science/science-and-technology-k-6-2024/outcomes
  3. www.nsw.gov.au/education-and-training/nesa/curriculum/science/science-and-technology-k-6-2017
  4. primaryconnections.org.au/v84-sequences/material-world
  5. primaryconnections.org.au/teaching-sequences/year-4/packaging-pioneers

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