Chemical Energy in Clothes

how does clothing have chemical energy? i have studied in "science and technology" book for 7th graders that examples of chemical energy are foods, fuels, and clothing.but i don't know what it means that clothing includes chemical energy.
- sepideh (age 29)
tehran,iran

It just means that the clothes are not in the lowest energy state available to them under the general conditions (temperature, atmosphere) in which they're found. Most clothes, for example, can burn, releasing energy. In this sense most objects that we use day to day have some chemical energy. Since we rarely make use of the chemical energy of clothes in this direct way, perhaps the book's authors were thinking of something else. They may have been thinking about all the energy (solar, fossil fuels) that typically goes into producing the materials for clothes.

Mike W.

(published on 05/11/2015)