Innovative Tuesday: The Invention of Paper

     Hello everybody and welcome back to another edition of Nations Made Fun! I'll be your host, Mr. Nations, your tour guide to this massive world we all call home! Today on Innovative Tuesday, we'll be discussing the invention of paper, an important invention in the world of communication. Well, what are we waiting for? Let's dive straight into it!

     Paper and the art of papermaking was an invention of the Chinese. It was widely believed that 105 B.C.E. is the year paper was invented, but after recent archaeological excavations, it was discovered that paper was invented about 200 years earlier. Ts'ai Lun broke the bark of the mulberry tree, extracted the fibers, and pounded it into a sheet.

     It was later discovered that the quality of paper could be much improved by adding hemp, rags, and old fish nets to the pulp. Paper quality continued to increase as the years went by until paper is the crisp, pretty paper we have today.

     Fun Facts:

• Americans use more than 90 million tons of paper products and cardboard a year.
• Johannes Gutenberg printed the first bible on parchment (sheepskin). It took the skin of 300 sheep to produce the one book.
• One pine tree can produce 80,500 sheets of paper.

     First printed bible:

     

     Sources: http://www.silkroadfoundation.org/artl/papermaking.shtml

     https://www.jampaper.com/blog/interesting-facts-about-paper/