Science Buddies: "Ask an Expert"

Hello Scientist,

I am only 6 years old and only in first grade so I do not have a project. I have two questions about an experiment my mom and I did last weekend
I was reading a book about Ancient Chinese Inventions and one of the inventions was paper. I wondered how they made paper. I looked it up using Goggle. I found an experiment on how to make different colored paper. It was really cool and the paper turned out great. My questions are, How does the liquid paste go from a liquid to a solid? Does the water cycle have anything to do with it? I would like to report the answers to my science teacher with an example of the paste and the finished paper. Thank You.

The future scientist TREY

Trey,

You are asking some really good questions. Kudos to you! I'm assuming that you made a paste of pulp and water and then pressed the paste into a sheet and let the sheet dry. Is this correct?

If this is what you did, then the reason that the paste went from a liquid to a solid is that the water in the paste evaporated. Do you know what the word evaporated means? In a sense, the water cycle is an important part of your experiment, because the water in the paste evaporated, which is a step in the water cycle. Of course, the water cycle has many steps and evaporation is just one of them.

Does this answer your question? If not, let us know so that we help you better!

Have fun!