Chemical Formula For Paper

[Khandro]

I'm trying to find what elements exist in paper, i.e. what is its formula, and I read;
"There is no chemical symbol for paper since it is not an element but rather a mixture of several different compounds.
Remember that paper is made out of trees. Thus, paper is made mostly out of organic compounds: that is carbon, hydrogen and oxygen (C, H & O). Paper also contains non organic materials to improve its properties. These may be chalk (CaCO3) and kaolin clay (Al2Si2O5(OH)4). Titanium oxide (TiO2) is also commonly used in paper for bleaching it."

Is this not contradictory? it says paper is made of organic compounds and lists C,H, and O, but these are elements aren't they?

[Zacs-Master]

Yes, but paper isn't a single element.

[Peter Pedant]

The script is right

I would enlarge the CHO bit to cellulose - which has the formula C6nH12nO6n I think.

Paper is a mixture of molecules ( and ionic compounds if you insist CaCo3 doesnt go around as a molecule )

[Prudie]

I'm not sure which bit you see as contradictory. I think you are looking for the chemical formula for paper which analysis would be able to provide. It's almost certainly an organic compound with non-organic additions - so overall non-organic.

[EDDIE51]

Paper is made of wood pulp and wood is made of an organic compound called cellulose, the chemical formula for cellulose is here

http://antoine.frostburg.edu/chem/senese/101/consumer/faq/what-is-cellulose.shtml
Paper also has Inorganic compounds as you have mentioned. Kaolin is used in most paper to give a smooth surface for printing and writing.
The wood pulp is often bleached with Chlorine based compounds and traces of this can remain in the paper. Titanium Dioxide is a white compound that gives a bright white finish to some paper. (also used in white paint)
Newsprint paper is almost pure cellulose with just a small amount of inorganic filler to make it cheap, as it is used in large quantities but does not need to last a long time.

[Peter Pedant]

Eddie is correct

and also please note - newsprint is a type of paper ( sort of lavatory paper easily torn that they print the SUn on ) and NOT a size of font

[Khandro]

Thanks, so what would you say - omitting the additives - a simple chemical formula for ordinary average paper might be?

[EDDIE51]

As said, it is cellulose and the formular for cellulose is on my link.
http://antoine.frostburg.edu/chem/senese/101/consumer/faq/what-is-cellulose.shtml

[EDDIE51]

Celllulose is not a 'simple' fomular it is a long chain natural polymer. Just click on the link to see it.
I can't put chemical formula with things like Benzine rings and bonds on here it needs a special keyboard .

[Khandro]

Eddie; Thanks, I did look at the link and it says filter paper is 'almost' pure cellulose.
For the record; I don't want it for 'scientific' purposes, I would like to use it as part of a title of an artwork.

[Khandro]

^ !!!!

[atalanta]

Some paper is not made from wood-pulp. Linen fibres can be used, and other fibres also, for more exotic papers. Papers for archives, which have to last many years, must not have acid in, or they will deteriorate rapidly. The Times used to be printed on 3 different papers ( don't know if it still is) - one for email, one regular common-or-garden paper, and one for Libraries to add to long-term archives. All these types of paper have different chemical formulae.

[EDDIE51]

^^ Cotton and Linen are just versions of Cellulose with longer chains of molecules. Wood pulp has chains of 5 to 8 links where Cotton and Linen have chains of over 400 links making them much stronger and longer lasting for paper making, but also a lot more expensive.

[Khandro]

Eddie; Your link gives diagrams, can these be reduced to a simpler formula for a typical piece of paper?

[EDDIE51]

You can put it as (C6H1005)n
You have to include the brackets and the 'n'

[Khandro]

Thanks Eddie! :0)

[theprof]

Whilst i understand what you're trying to do Khandro, I'm afraid what you're seeking cannot possibly exist.

Chemical formulae in simple terms show the elemental composition of a substance. Whilst straightforward paper is predominantly made of cellulose, it is incorrect to provide a general formula for cellulose as the same general formula applies to hundreds and sometimes thousands of other compounds. This is easily demonstrated by substituting numbers instead of "n" in the examples given elsewhere on this thread and looking up the result. Now that's out of the way, let's go on.

I won't discuss inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry here, but suffice to say it would provide you with the name of every element contained in a given sample of paper. The problem is that samples differ in composition based upon, in the case of trees, the environment they were grown, nutrient content of soil, seasonal influences, tree age, wood processing methods, paper finishing etc. Additionaly, no two trees have identical cellular chemical composition in the seconds they're cut down to be turned into paper. Nevertheless, typically, element composition of paper would include Cerium, Sodium, Magnesium, Barium, Strontium, Manganese, Aluminium and a whole host of other elements.

Due to this complex elemental structure of paper neither an empirical nor general formula can be allocated to it. It is conventional to state that paper is predominantly composed of cellulose, which in turn contains Carbon, Hydrogen and Oxygen but it is far from being the whole story.

[theprof]

(C6H1005)n is the general formula for polysaccharides. Cellulose is just one polysaccharide.

[Old_Geezer]

Such an artwork sounds very simple.

[EDDIE51]

^^ Thanks prof you have explained what I was trying to say. That there is no 'chemical formula' for paper in the way there is a formula for Sulphuric Acid , H2SO4. The general formula for Cellulose was as close as I could get.
Intresting that from a chemical view point paper and sugar are very similar.