Paper University - Fun With Science

	Paper Towel Testing
	How Does a Paper Towel Absorb Water?
	A Closer Look at Paper Fibers
	Balancing a Book on a Piece of Paper
	Möbius Strips
	Stepping Through Paper
	Landscape Forestry

A Closer Look at Paper Fibers

What you'll need:

photocopier paper
notebook paper
paper towel
newspaper
brown paper bag
facial tissue
microscope

The main component of paper is cellulose fiber. Each fiber is finer than a human hair. Wood chips are broken down into individual fibers to make a mushy substance called pulp, which in turn is made into paper.

In this activity you will view some different types of paper under a microscope and observe the fibers that interlace to form the sheet.

Procedure:

1. Design a recording sheet like the one shown below to record your data.

Type of Paper	Characteristics of Paper (example: thickness, softness, smoothness, etc.)	Description of Fibers
photocopier paper	(example: smooth, thin, strong)	(example: short or long? tightly or loosely woven?, etc.)
notebook paper
paper towel
newspaper
brown paper bag
facial tissue

2. Tear off a small piece of each kind of paper. The torn edge allows you to see a thinner section of the paper.

3. Position the torn edge under the microscope.

4. Observe the fibers.

Interpreting your data:

1. Describe what you see. Record descriptions of the fibers for each type of paper on your recording sheet.

2. Viewed under the microscope, how are the paper fibers alike and how they are different?

3. What factors might explain the differences you observed in the fibers?

4. Think about the end use of each paper sample. How might the fiber characteristics influence how the different kinds of paper are used by consumers?

Adapted from The Manufacture of Pulp and Paper: Science and Engineering Concepts,
TAPPI PRESS, Atlanta, GA, 1988.