The video below apparently shows a man folding an A3 size piece of paper 7 times, putting it under the hydraulic press each time. After 7 folds, on the last press, the paper sort of explodes. What's happening here?
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1 Answer
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Most probably the paper used contained a substantial amount of calcium carbonate(it is used to give the paper its opaqueness),and this mineral could not bear the immense stress due to the hydraulic press and thus its crystal structure collapsed in an 'explosion'.Had the paper been devoid of it,the end result would have been individual fibres separating and forming a fibrous 'mess'.
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$\begingroup$ Isn't a crystal already a pure, high density, compact, space filling, regular, lattice structure of atoms? What is the name for the material that collapsed calcium carbonate is? $\endgroup$ Commented May 29, 2016 at 18:10
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$\begingroup$ Would other forms of calcium carbonate therefore be even more spectacular to apply this amount of pressure to? $\endgroup$ Commented May 29, 2016 at 18:30