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Speaker 1: today's question, why doesn't paper money disintegrate when it gets
Speaker 1: washed in the washing machine? Normal paper, which includes notebook paper, newspaper,
Speaker 1: construction paper, is all made out of cellulos, which comes
Speaker 1: from trees. The trees are chemically broken down into their
Speaker 1: individual wood fibers, and the cellulose fibers are formed into
Speaker 1: very thin sheets to create paper. Paper. Money, on the
Speaker 1: other hand, is made from a different kind of fiber,
Speaker 1: cotton and linen fibers. To be exact, you've probably heard
Speaker 1: of rag paper or fine linen writing paper. This is
Speaker 1: where it comes from, and money is made from the
Speaker 1: same thing. It turns out that cotton and linen fibers
Speaker 1: bond together much more firmly than fibers in regular wood
Speaker 1: fiber paper. Cotton and linen fibers are basically unaffected by water,
Speaker 1: whereas cellulose fibers absorb water and come apart when they
Speaker 1: get wet. So paper money comes through the washer just fine,
Speaker 1: while cellulose paper comes on glued. Do you have any
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Speaker 1: me an email at podcast at how stuff works dot com.
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