We eat them, we wear them, we sit and stand on them, we write on them and even make some Qf our most popular drinks from them. Wheat and other cereals contain starch, a carbohydrate; sugar is also a carbohydrate; cotton, linen and other textiles of vegetable· origin contain large proportions of the carbohydrate cellulose; cellulose is also found in wood. The isolation of cellulose from wood in a more or less uncontaminated condition is the first stage in the manufacture of much of our paper, and cellulose so obtained often forms the raw material from which, by chemical processes, artificial silk, lacquers, films and other common commodities are made. The carbohydrates are also the basis of the fermentation industries, leading not only to alcoholic beverages but also to a variety of useful solvents, such as butanol, butyl acetate, acetone, and so on.
The University of Sydney acknowledges that its campuses and facilities sit on the ancestral lands of Aboriginal and
Torres Strait Islander peoples, who have for thousands of generations exchanged knowledge for the benefit of all.
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