NCERT Solutions for Class 6 Science Chapter 6 Materials Around Us (PDF) – 2027

Every object is made of some material, and the material decides how the object looks, feels and weighs. For example:

Sample Table 6.1 (your own list will differ):

The same objects can be grouped in many ways — one grouping for each property chosen:

Any grouping is correct if every object in a group shares the property you chose.

Write down the one property you actually used. For example:

Usually not — and that is the interesting part. In a class of forty children you will find several different groupings of the very same picture:

• Some children sort by colour — all the red things together.
• Some sort by shape — all the round things together.
• Some sort by material — all the metal things together.
• Some sort by use — all the writing things together.
• Some sort by hardness or by shine.

1. An object can be made from different materials — a tumbler may be of steel, glass, plastic or clay.
2. One material can be used to make more than one object — glass gives a tumbler, marbles and a window pane.
3. The method of arranging objects into groups is called classification; it is done on the basis of a common property.
4. The same objects can be classified in many ways by changing the property.

Materials to write in the four spaces of Fig. 6.2: steel, glass, plastic and clay (baked).

Brass, copper or bamboo are also correct. All of these can hold water, which is what a tumbler must do.

No, it would be a very bad idea. A cooking utensil is put directly on a flame, and paper fails on every count.

Paper catches fire, soaks up water and becomes soggy, and is too weak to hold food. So cooking utensils are made of metals (steel, iron, aluminium) or baked clay, which do not burn or soak up water.

Because cloth soaks up water and lets it leak out.

Cloth is woven from threads with tiny gaps between them, so water passes through and drips out. Cloth also absorbs water and is too soft to keep its shape. A tumbler must be made of a material that can hold water, such as steel, glass or plastic.

Because every sport needs the ball to behave differently — and the behaviour comes from the material.

No. A cricket ball is hard and heavy (cork wound with thread inside leather), so it hardly bounces. Tennis needs a light, hollow rubber ball that bounces high. A cricket ball could also damage the racquet and hurt the players.

Drop each ball from the same height onto the same floor and compare how high it bounces back.

Ball with the highest bounce: the tennis ball.

sports balls differ in size, colour, texture and bounce.

Fig. 6.4 shows 16 solid shapes. Look carefully and you will find they are a perfect set: 4 shapes × 4 colours.

Grouping 1 — by shape (4 groups of 4):

Grouping 2 — by colour (4 groups of 4): pink — 4 objects; orange — 4 objects; blue — 4 objects; purple — 4 objects.

Yes. Copper wire, aluminium foil and articles of brass, bronze or steel shine when light falls on them — they are lustrous. Paper, cardboard, wood and chalk do not shine — they are non-lustrous.

No. “All that glitters is not gold.” Some materials that are not metals are made shiny by polishing them or coating them with a thin layer of plastic, wax or another material — for example, a polished wooden table or a laminated notebook cover. Also, a metal may look dull when air and moisture act on it.

Yes. Take a metal key and drag it firmly across each surface. You will see a clear difference.

Materials which can be compressed or scratched easily are soft; materials which are difficult to compress or scratch are hard.

Filled Table 6.3 (an object that dents when pressed is soft; one that does not give at all is hard):

Discussion: friends may disagree when the same object is made of different materials — a thin plastic bottle can be squeezed, a steel bottle cannot. Hardness belongs to the material.

Yes — many more. Here are the ones you can test yourself with things at home:

Because each of them picked something you cannot see through clearly. That is the whole trick of hide and seek.

Ghulan hid behind a wall and Sheeta behind a thick tree trunk — both are opaque, so they could not be seen at all. Sara hid behind a frosted glass door, which is translucent, so only a blurred shape could be seen.

No, he could not see anything.

A closed wooden window is opaque. Wood does not let light pass through it at all, so no light from Sheeta and her friends can reach his eyes. He would see only the wooden shutter in front of him.

So the answer line reads: (A) Opaque (B) Opaque (C) Translucent (D) Transparent.

Hold each object over the writing in your notebook and see how much of it you can read.

Yes, clean water is transparent — a coin in a glass of clean water is seen clearly.

Yes, it can be made opaque by mixing in a lot of mud, milk or ink, which makes it so cloudy or dark that the coin cannot be seen.

Materials that completely disappear are said to dissolve in water — they are soluble in water. Materials that do not mix and do not disappear even after long stirring are insoluble in water.

No. Activity 6.7 answers this directly — only some materials disappear.

• Soluble materials disappear: sugar, salt, glucose, ORS powder, gur (jaggery), alum. They dissolve and the water stays clear.
• Insoluble materials do not disappear: sand and chalk powder settle at the bottom; sawdust and small pieces of wood float on top; mustard oil forms a separate layer.

Vinegar and honey dissolve (mix completely) in water, but oil does not — it forms a separate layer on top when left undisturbed.

Gases dissolve in water too — some well, some hardly at all.

For example, oxygen gas dissolves in water. This dissolved oxygen is very important for the survival of animals and plants that live in water — fish breathe it. Some other gases hardly dissolve in water.

Inference: C (pebbles) is the heaviest and A (water) is the lightest, even though all three cups hold the same amount. Your own readings will differ with the size of your cup — write down what your balance actually shows.

Because the amount of water in the two tumblers is different. Both tumblers are identical, so they have the same capacity. In the half-filled tumbler the water occupies less space, so its volume is less; in the almost-full tumbler it occupies more space, so its volume is more. The space occupied by water is its volume.

Because the jug held more water than the bottle could hold — the volume of water in the jug was greater than the capacity of the bottle.

Yes — mass and volume. Lustre, hardness, transparency and solubility are shown by some materials only, but every material has:

1. Mass — every material has some mass. Units: gram (g) and kilogram (kg).
2. Volume — every material occupies some space. Units: litre (L) and millilitre (mL).

Anything that occupies space and has mass is called matter.

Yes, air is matter — because it satisfies both tests.

It occupies space — air fills a balloon, and an empty glass pushed upside down into water does not fill because air is inside it. It has mass — a football weighs a little more after air is pumped into it.

Yes. Apply the two tests to anything you like and it passes:

So materials are types of matter used in the creation or making of objects. Every material around us — wood, glass, plastic, clay, metal, cloth, water, air — is an example of matter.

Plastic is both — a boon in how it is used and a bane in how it is thrown away. Discuss both sides before deciding.

Conclusion: plastic is a very useful material, but single-use plastic and careless disposal harm the environment. We should reduce, reuse and recycle plastic.

Draw an arrow wherever one word is a property of the other, or one is an example of the other. Here are all the correct links:

A sample filled grid:

The definitions your facilitator will read — learn these and you cannot lose:

In our kitchen, spices are kept in a masala dabba near the stove, pulses and grains in big jars, and vegetables and milk in the refrigerator. A better method:

1. Keep things used every day within easy reach.
2. Group foods by what spoils them — damp (airtight jars), warmth (refrigerator).
3. Use transparent, labelled jars to see what is running low.

Because a transparent container lets you see what is inside without opening it. That single property gives several practical advantages.

• We can identify what is inside without opening it.
• We can see how much is left and when to refill it.
• We can check the quality — insects, fungus or stones — from outside.
• Less opening keeps out air, moisture and dust, so food stays fresh longer.
• In shops, customers can see the goods before buying.

The properties to think about before choosing any container:

• Hardness and strength — will the waste tear or pierce it?
• Water-proof or absorbent — will wet waste leak through?
• Does it rust or rot when it stays wet?
• Weight — can it be lifted and emptied easily when full?
• Ease of cleaning — a smooth, non-absorbent surface washes clean.
• Cost and reuse — it should last many months.

Correct option: (i) transparent, opaque.

Justification: X stays rigid when pressed, so it is hard; it dissolves completely, so it is soluble — for example, a crystal of sugar or rock salt. Y changes shape easily, so it is soft; it stays unchanged in water, so it is insoluble — for example, a sponge or an eraser.

(i) Who am I?

(ii) Sample ‘Who am I?’: I am hard and transparent, and I break if you drop me. Who am I? — Glass

Two pairs where one material is soluble in the other:

Two pairs where one material remains insoluble in the other:

Sample answer — materials that can be recycled:

Sample answer — properties a recycler checks:

Materials they usually do not buy, and why:

• Thermocol — so light that a sackful fetches almost no money.
• Chips and biscuit wrappers, thin polythene — made of layers that are hard to separate.
• Broken crockery and mirror glass — hard to recycle and can cut hands.
• Wet or dirty paper — cannot be pulped cleanly.
• Old batteries and tube lights — harmful; need special handling.

Yes — for any one property each object fits into one group; objects made of more than one material are harder to place. Relationship: the use of an object depends on the properties of its material — a window is transparent, a pillow is soft, a tumbler holds water, a raincoat does not soak water.

Sample answer — a pen stand from a discarded plastic bottle: with an elder’s help, cut an empty 1 L bottle to about 12 cm and tape the cut edge. Stick a cardboard base under it, then decorate it with newspaper strips, paint and cloth pieces. Plastic is light and waterproof; cardboard makes a stiff base.

Feedback: give one good point and one improvement with a reason — “It tips over when full; a wider base will fix it.”