Recycling Paper

sci
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d
What You Nee
eets to
sh
–5
(4
• newspaper
tra sheets
ex
e
m
tear up and so
ess)
oc
for the pressing pr
• large bowl
• hot water
• cornstarch
oons
• measuring sp
il
• aluminum fo
n
oo
sp
• wooden
• scissors
• sharp pencil
like tissue
• decorations
glitter
paper, confetti, or
g
Recyclin
aking news! into paper!
re
B
Paper Newspaper turned
Science Scoop
Newspaper is made of cellulose
fibers, which come from plants. Paper is made of
millions of these fibers tangled together in a thin
layer. The fibers naturally bond to one another.
Water breaks down this bond. When you
covered the newspaper with water, the fibers in
the paper loosened their hold on each other.
Then you’re able to rearrange the fibers into
new paper. The cornstarch you added helped
bind the cellulose fibers to each other again.
When you left your recycled paper out to dry,
the water evaporated from the pulp and the
fibers stuck together again to form a piece of
recycled paper.
on
™
pieces and
spaper into small
w
ne
e
th
ng
tti
cu
1 Start by
Try making paper from other
l.
r and mix
pe
put them in a bow
pa
e
th
r
ve
co
materials like cardboard or
gh hot tap water to
2 Pour in enou
tissue paper. Write to ZOOM
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per is wet
feels
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an
s
it until all of the pa
ok
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it
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he
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t for a few hours.
per.
3 Let the paper si
pa
e
ak
m
to
and tell us how you made
y
ad
re
l, you’re
ore
m
tle
like cooked oatmea
lit
a
d
an
ch
ar
your recycled paper.
espoons of cornst
lp.
4 Add a few tabl
u
p
e
th
is
is
Th
.
all up again
hot water. Mix it
er out of a piece of
5 Make a strain
in it with
h lots of small holes
nc
Pu
il.
fo
m
inu
m
alu
a sharp pencil.
a pile
um foil on top of
6 Put the alumin
of newspaper.
layer of pulp.
um foil with a thin
in
m
alu
e
th
er
ov
7 C
top and press
of aluminum foil on
t
ee
sh
r
he
ot
an
Place
extra water.
down to drain the
the pulp with
il and decorate
fo
of
t
ee
sh
p
to
e
8 Lift th
r, or confetti.
tissue paper, glitte
things like colored
top sheet of foil.
lp and replace the
pu
e
th
in
s
le
ho
y
9 Fix an
to press it flat.
on top of the pulp
s
ok
bo
ce
la
P
10
of foil. Leave
s and the top layer
ok
bo
e
th
e
ov
Rem
dry.
night (or longer) to
the pulp out over
l it from
Changing newspaper
is dry, carefully pee
11 Once the pulp
r!
pe
into pulp takes several
eated pa
the foil. You just cr
hours and the drying
ncoln, NE
Li
of
g
on
al
Bo
process can take a
d
an
ny
Sent i n by Tiffa
day or two.
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is provided by the National Science Foundation, the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, The Weezie Foundation, and public television viewers. This material
is based upon work supported by the National Science Foundation under Grant No. 0337323. Any opinions, findings, conclusions, or recommendations
expressed in this material are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Science Foundation.