Interesting Facts - Turns out, U.S. dollars are made not from paper, but instead from a fiber blend of 75% cotton and 25% linen. This water-resistant, durable material can hold up to far more wear and tear than actual wood-pulp paper could. While a dollar can be torn with intentional force, it would take an estimated 4,000 repetitive folds in the same spot to cause a tear. American dollars also include red and blue synthetic fibers, which are woven into the material and included to make counterfeiting more difficult.
1 comment:
Of course it's made of paper. Just not wood pulp paper.
For centuries after parchment and vellum became too expensive to use because of the need to supply books to an increasingly literate population, paper was made, by hand, of linen and cotton rags. The pulped cloth was agitated onto a screen in a bath until it was sufficiently distributed to be printed-on. Then the screen was raised, the water drained off, and the sheet was hung up to dry before being printed on.
Later it became too expensive to use rags, and wood-pulp became used for all throwaway printing, such as newspapers, posters, paperback books, and even many higher-class books. That's where we are today, technologically. Rag papers are still made (tho rarely by hand anymore) and used for high-class letters, books and art substrates.
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