Fun Facts About Paper

 Fun Fact Friday

This fun fact friday, Let's hear some really fun facts about paper. A commodity we use in our daily lives in notebooks, diaries, etc. Nowadays we have eco-friendly paper pencils as well.

Fun Facts About Paper

1. Paper was invented from hemp by the Chinese, around 100 B.C. Later, they started creating paper using other forms of plant fibers such as bamboo and tree bark. Prior to the invention of paper, papyrus served as a writing surface.

2. The Chinese also are credited with being the first people to use paper currency and toilet paper.

3. The production of the paper focuses on softwood trees that account for approximately eighty-five percent of the form. The wood pulp in softwood trees contains cellulose fibers and is most preferred since they can produce adequate strength for paper.

4. The favorable softwood trees for papermaking include pine, fir, and spruce. Trees come in varied sizes, making it difficult to establish how a single tree can produce many sheets of paper. However, on average, one pine tree can make around 80,000 sheets of paper.

5. It can take five liters of water to make one sheet of paper. Although water and writing may sound like a bizarre combination, ninety-nine percent removal of water will make the remaining one percent paper the way we see it.

6. You can put paper into seven different categories. These are printing paper, writing paper, drawing paper, wrapping paper, handmade paper, blotting paper, and specialty paper.

7. Paper-making was a huge secret the Chinese kept to themselves until the sixth century when the idea was brought to Japan by a Buddhist monk called Dam Jing. The Japanese quickly learned this tactic and began making the valuable item using pulp obtained from mulberry bark.

8. It is believed that the knowledge of paper-making was later passed to the Arab world in 751 CE after the famous Battle of Talas. During this time, two Chinese who were paper-makers were captured as prisoners.

9. The paper-making technique employed by people of the Middle East tangled macerating and garnering rags in water to create homogeneous pulp, which would be sifted to obtain macerated fiber sheets. The sheets were then pressed, dried, and covered with a film of rice starch.

10. The idea of paper production and usage spread from the Middle East to Europe in the 13th Century. It was then that Europe established the first water-powered paper mills.

Thank you everyone, See you all next Fun Friday with new facts!