Hinglish

Grouping Materials

Class 6 Science · Chapter 6: Materials Around Us · NCERT Curiosity section 6.2

Learn

Zoya's teacher puts 12 objects on a table and asks the class to sort them. One group sorts by material, another by shape, another by what they are used for. All of them are right, as long as they say which property they used!

Grouping materials helps us compare them, remember their properties, and choose the right one for a job. Scientists group materials by properties like hardness, shine, how light passes through them, whether they dissolve, and whether they float.

The same material can land in different groups: glass is hard, transparent and sinks in water. So a grouping always depends on the property you choose.

Explore: group objects by whether they float.

  1. Drop each one in and choose its group.

Remember

  • Materials can be grouped by different properties; say which property you use.
  • Grouping helps us compare, remember and choose materials.

Quick check

Glass is hard, transparent and sinks in water. What does this show?

  1. One material can belong to different groups
  2. Glass has only one property
  3. Glass floats
  4. Grouping is impossible
Answer

One material can belong to different groups. Each property gives a different grouping.

Think about it

Sort these into two groups in two different ways: steel spoon, wooden spoon, glass marble, rubber ball, paper boat, iron nail.

One answer

By floating: wooden spoon, rubber ball and paper boat float; the others sink. By shine: steel spoon and iron nail (when new) and glass marble are shiny; the rest are not. Other groupings are also correct.

Practice

Practise with fresh questions at three levels (easy, medium, hard), some answered hands-on, with hints and worked answers. Get 4 of your last 5 right to finish the topic.