full transcript

From the Ted Talk by Michael R. Stiff: Why is cotton in everything?

Unscramble the Blue Letters


These fibers begin life deep within a cotton flower, on the suafcre of a seed. As many as 16,000 fibers will festoon a silgne seed, bulging from the seed’s surface like miniature wtaer balloons. Each cotton fiber, no matter how large it grwos, is made of just one cell. That cell has multiple layers of cell wall. After a few days, the sides of the first layer, called the pirarmy cell wall, stiffen, pusihng cell growth in one direction and causing the fiber to egnoatle.

The fiber elongates quickly for about 16 days. Then it begnis the next stage: strengthening the cell wall. It does this by making more of the carbohydrate cellulose. cleulsole will make up 34% of the cell wall at this stage and swiftly increases. This new growth also reinforces the cell wall by going against the grain of the existing wall. The srtntgeneehd wall is more rigid, rntiecirtsg further gtorwh. That means if the fiebr remodels its walls too early, it will be short, and ultimately make rough, weak fabrics. But if cell wall srnnngthetieg begins too late, the wall won’t be sturdy enough— producing fibers that are too weak to hold fabrics together well.

Open Cloze


These fibers begin life deep within a cotton flower, on the _______ of a seed. As many as 16,000 fibers will festoon a ______ seed, bulging from the seed’s surface like miniature _____ balloons. Each cotton fiber, no matter how large it _____, is made of just one cell. That cell has multiple layers of cell wall. After a few days, the sides of the first layer, called the _______ cell wall, stiffen, _______ cell growth in one direction and causing the fiber to ________.

The fiber elongates quickly for about 16 days. Then it ______ the next stage: strengthening the cell wall. It does this by making more of the carbohydrate cellulose. _________ will make up 34% of the cell wall at this stage and swiftly increases. This new growth also reinforces the cell wall by going against the grain of the existing wall. The ____________ wall is more rigid, ___________ further ______. That means if the _____ remodels its walls too early, it will be short, and ultimately make rough, weak fabrics. But if cell wall _____________ begins too late, the wall won’t be sturdy enough— producing fibers that are too weak to hold fabrics together well.

Solution


  1. pushing
  2. surface
  3. grows
  4. primary
  5. elongate
  6. cellulose
  7. strengthened
  8. growth
  9. strengthening
  10. fiber
  11. restricting
  12. water
  13. begins
  14. single

Original Text


These fibers begin life deep within a cotton flower, on the surface of a seed. As many as 16,000 fibers will festoon a single seed, bulging from the seed’s surface like miniature water balloons. Each cotton fiber, no matter how large it grows, is made of just one cell. That cell has multiple layers of cell wall. After a few days, the sides of the first layer, called the primary cell wall, stiffen, pushing cell growth in one direction and causing the fiber to elongate.

The fiber elongates quickly for about 16 days. Then it begins the next stage: strengthening the cell wall. It does this by making more of the carbohydrate cellulose. Cellulose will make up 34% of the cell wall at this stage and swiftly increases. This new growth also reinforces the cell wall by going against the grain of the existing wall. The strengthened wall is more rigid, restricting further growth. That means if the fiber remodels its walls too early, it will be short, and ultimately make rough, weak fabrics. But if cell wall strengthening begins too late, the wall won’t be sturdy enough— producing fibers that are too weak to hold fabrics together well.

Frequently Occurring Word Combinations


ngrams of length 2

collocation frequency
cell wall 7
cotton fiber 2
fine fibers 2
secondary cell 2
secondary layer 2

ngrams of length 3

collocation frequency
secondary cell wall 2

Important Words


  1. balloons
  2. begins
  3. bulging
  4. called
  5. carbohydrate
  6. causing
  7. cell
  8. cellulose
  9. cotton
  10. days
  11. deep
  12. direction
  13. early
  14. elongate
  15. elongates
  16. existing
  17. fabrics
  18. festoon
  19. fiber
  20. fibers
  21. flower
  22. grain
  23. grows
  24. growth
  25. hold
  26. increases
  27. large
  28. late
  29. layer
  30. layers
  31. life
  32. making
  33. matter
  34. means
  35. miniature
  36. multiple
  37. primary
  38. producing
  39. pushing
  40. quickly
  41. reinforces
  42. remodels
  43. restricting
  44. rigid
  45. rough
  46. seed
  47. short
  48. sides
  49. single
  50. stage
  51. stiffen
  52. strengthened
  53. strengthening
  54. sturdy
  55. surface
  56. swiftly
  57. ultimately
  58. wall
  59. walls
  60. water
  61. weak