Most paper is made from trees. Logs are chopped into wood chips. The chips are then mixed with chemicals and water and turned into a mush called wood pulp. The soggy pulp is put into a machine which spreads the mixture onto a moving belt. Huge rollers squeeze water from the pulp and flatten it, and hot rollers dry it. And then, out of the end of the machine comes a new roll of paper.
Recycled paper
Old, used paper can be made into new paper, called recycled paper. Recycled paper is a good idea because it helps save trees.
Making money
The paper for making dollar bills isn't made out of wood fibers, but out of cotton rags. That's because the fibers in cotton are stronger than the fibers in wood.
Here's your change
"Doctor, I keep thinking I'm a dollar bill!"
"Go shopping, the change will do you good!"
Paper facts
- Some forests are grown especially to be made into paper.
- The first people to make paper from pulp were the Chinese. They made paper from bamboo.
- The queen wasp chews wood to make pulp, and then makes a papery nest with it.
