Making silk fibre
Silk is a fine fibre taken from the cocoon a silkworm makes. The worm eats only mulberry leaves and, when grown, releases a liquid from glands near its mouth and wraps a cocoon around itself; the liquid hardens in the air into a thin thread. In the factory the cocoons are softened with steam, a special brush-comb finds the end of the thread, and then the thread is slowly unwound from the cocoon. One cocoon thread is several hundred metres long, sometimes close to 1,500 metres. In Uzbekistan silk-making is famous in the Fergana valley, especially in Margilan.
You need: a ball of thread, a ruler or tape measure, paper, pencil. Steps: 1) Unwind the thread without breaking it and stretch it along a corridor or yard (nobody should walk through). 2) Measure its length and write it down. 3) Remember that a cocoon thread can reach 1,500 m and estimate how many times shorter your thread is. 4) Draw the stages of silk-making in order on paper. Safety: keep the stretched thread away from walkways so no one trips; use scissors only while seated.