Read the passage and answer the questions given below it.
A plastic bottle thrown into a drain does not really disappear. Nor does it stay whole. Plastic resists the bacteria that break down a banana peel or a paper bag, so instead of rotting, it splinters. Sunlight makes it brittle, and the pieces keep shrinking without ever going away. Below five millimetres, scientists call them microplastics, and at that size the puzzle is no longer where plastic goes. It is how it comes back.
Most microplastics are made small by attrition: car tyres grinding against the road, waves rolling broken bottles against sand, a polyester kurta rubbing against itself in the washing machine. One wash can loosen thousands of fibres. They drain away to treatment plants, which catch a good share of them. That catch is not the end of the story. The trapped sludge is often spread on farmland as fertiliser, and the fibres taken out of the water end up in the soil where crops grow.
The sea does the rest. Fish take in particles along with their food. Mussels and oysters, which we eat whole, gut and all, hand theirs straight to us. Sea salt, made by drying seawater, keeps whatever the water held. Studies have found microplastics in tap water, and in bottled water too, which many people buy to avoid the tap.
What all this does to the body is still uncertain. Scientists have not shown how much harm, if any, these particles cause at the levels we take in. I find that harder to sit with than a clear danger would be. Switching to a steel bottle is a decent habit. It does little about the tyre dust settling on a wheat field beside the highway.
The word ‘attrition’, as used in the passage, means:
Answer & explanation
Correct answer: option 4
The correct answer is Option (4) → a slow wearing away through rubbing
Attrition here means a slow wearing away through rubbing.
- The passage says most microplastics are made small by attrition. It then gives cases: tyres “grinding against the road”, waves rolling broken bottles against sand, and a kurta “rubbing against itself” in the washing machine.
- In each case, rubbing slowly wears off tiny bits of plastic. Example: Years of attrition from the river had worn the rocks on its bed smooth and round.
Why the Other Options are Incorrect?
Option 1: a gradual fall in the number of people in a group — Incorrect. Wrong meaning: This is another meaning of attrition, used for staff or members who leave and are not replaced. The passage is about plastic, not people. Example: The call centre lost many workers through attrition last year.
Option 2: a sudden breaking apart under great force — Incorrect. Wrong meaning: This is the meaning of shattering. The passage describes slow grinding and rubbing, not a sudden break. Example: The cricket ball hit the window, shattering the glass.
Option 3: the process of rotting away naturally — Incorrect. Wrong meaning: This is the meaning of decomposition. The passage says plastic does not rot. Example: The decomposition of dry leaves in the pit turned them into compost.