What is paper?

Answer 1

Paper is wood (or plant) pulp flattened and compressed with a binder. It is usually bleached to provide a white contrasting surface for dark ink or pencil graphite--writing and drawing. Paper can come in many colors and sizes. The most common size of paper in Europe is A4. Paper originally was made from plants called papyrus. These plants grow along the Nile river, or any place where it's wet and moist. The ancient Egyptians first made paper (papyrus) out of this plant. Paper is still used today, but is made primarily from wood pulp. It can also be made from other vegetable matter, as noted above. The original US Constitution, for example, was written on paper made from hemp.

Before paper people wrote on parchment, similar to vellum, which was generally made from sheep skin or goat skin. Paper is preferred to this due to the cost in time and effort required to prepare parchment for writing. Even earlier forms of writing involved impressing symbols into clay tablets, as was common with cuneiform, or carving symbols into stone, as with hieroglyphics. Greek school children (and philosopher/scientists) commonly wrote with chalk on sheets of slate, much like our modern chalk boards. Early American school children often wrote on shovels with pieces of charcoal, so to say that "paper is something you write on" is not particularly descriptive or accurate. People write on concrete walls with spray paint, for example, or they may write on concrete sidewalks. paper is paper... yeah.