Paper

Paper is a thin, flat material produced by the compression of fibres. The fibres used are usually natural and based upon cellulose. The most common material is wood pulp from pulpwood (largely softwood) trees such as spruces, but other vegetable fibre materials including cotton, linen, and hemp may be used. A stack of 500 sheets of paper is called a . The edges of paper sheets can act as very thin, fine-toothed saws, leading to paper cuts.

Applications

• to write or print on: the piece of paper becomes a document; this may be for keeping a record (or in the case of printing from a computer or copying from another paper: an additional record) and for communication; see also reading. Also a paper may represent a value:
• paper money
• bank note
• check
• security
• voucher
• ticket

:In such cases making a copy that can not easily be distinguished from the original should be very difficult, to avoid abuse, see counterfeit.

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:Official documents and private statements that are run through a computer are placed in individual letters by a "bursting machine" (right).

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:Printed papers can be bound etc. to form a book, brochure, magazine, newspaper, etc.; a dysphemism for such an edition is "dead tree edition", as opposed to alternatives such as a file on hard disk (locally or accessed remotely through internet), CD-ROM, diskette, etc.

Related Topics:
Book - Magazine - Newspaper - Dysphemism - Dead tree edition

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:A computer file can be converted to a paper document by printing, using a computer printer. The converse can be done by scanning, possibly followed by Optical character recognition (OCR).

Related Topics:
Printing - Computer printer - Scanning - Optical character recognition

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• for packaging:
• envelope
• wrapping tissue
• wallpaper
• for cleaning (see also tissue, Kleenex):
• toilet paper
• handkerchiefs
• paper towels
• cat litter
• miscellaneous cleaning in the kitchen, etc.
• for construction
• papier-mâché
• origami