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?

[jomifl]

Paper consists of probably every element known to man in varying proportions except for some of those with very short half lives. Most of the elements are present accidentally but some are added in the form of chemical compounds to modify the properties of the mainly cellulose fibre matrix. You just have to decide how much of this mixture you want to include in your 'formula' though in reality what you seem to want is a list of ingredients.

[theprof]

No problem EDDIE51. General formulae can often mislead the unwary especially in the complex world of polymer chemistry.

I've recently reviewed a paper that discusses some groundbreaking ideas about Glycogen metabolism and automatically, my first thought when I saw (C6H1005)n was Glycogen rather than cellulose. However, I mustn't forget Pullulan, Curdlan, Levoglucosan, Soluble Starch and at a push, Dextran amongst others, all of which have the same general formula.

I do understand what you mean by the similarity between sugar and paper chemically but as far as properties are concerned, they are like chalk and cheese. In general, all monosaccharides and disaccharides (sugars) are sweet, crystalline and are soluble in water. However polysaccharides are not sweet, not crystalline and are insoluble in water. There are other saccharide groups too with different properties.

[Khandro]

Really thanks guys, as i have said, I'm not too worried about an absolute all encompassing definition, though I want some degree of accuracy. It is for a title, think of it like the title of the Truffaut film based on Bradbury's book 'Farenheit 451' which I believe was to do with the temperature at which paper (as a book) begins to burn.

[Hypognosis]

Cellulose is only the half of it. It is what plant cell walls are made of (the live cells, I mean). Cells at the heart of the stem are progressively coated in lignin, which I vaguely recall has a protein component and the cross-linking bonds which give it strength involve sulphur (cisteine -> cistine conversions).

This is why coal and mineral oil has a sulphur content, btw.

Once the cell wall has lignified to the point of becoming impermeable, the cell dies. Hence the trunk of a tree is essentially dead, except for a thin layer under the bark. For what it's worth, the only (land-based) organisms with the right enzymes to digest lignin are fungi and termites.

Random google reference to lignin in paper
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0926669003001171

Some of the recommended reading items at the foot of the page look useful but I haven't stopped to read them myself, so you don't have to, unless your curiosity gets the better of you.

In summary: per other replies, above, there is no convenient chemical formula for paper. As long as it makes impressionable, scientifically illiterate, arts students look ignorant when they reference your artwork, then I am perfectly happy for you to pretend that there is one.

What is art if it is without pretentiousness?

[Khandro]

Hypo. Thanks for the extra info. however, '(C6H1005)n' has now gone into the title of the artwork, but it's only art - ("only art"! what am I saying?).

I have also just discovered that the eponymous cellophane, comprises of almost pure cellulose and is arrived at by some strange process involving heat.

[Hypognosis]

@Khandro,

true. I was aware it was cellulose based but had never read into it in any depth. I am not aware, for one thing, whether any organisms have the right enzymes with which to rot it down, without which, it would be as bad as plastic. (Sunlight might break it down, given time).

As for the artwork: good luck with it. Some pedants might get wound-up over the chemical formula but * 'em :D