(Photo Credit: pet-rubber-duck)
Books, Books, Books! They are something we cannot do without – be it in leisure (novels, magazines, etc), academic (school textbooks, revision books, workbooks, etc) or self-improvement (motivation, self-development, etc).
Even with the advance of technology, the kindle, the ipad, the macbook, the netbook, etc – we all still need and want books.
In fact there is a group of people that simply love old books. They love the smell, feel and look (usually torn and with dark brown patches) of these old books – usually fragile and tattered.
Now, what causes the book to turn brown, black and fragile? We need to studyinto the manufacturing of papers before they are imprinted with words and binded into books.
Chemistry Concepts behind the Fragile Looks of Old Books:
During paper manufacturing, the chemical Aluminium Sulfate is often used to treat the papers, before they are imprinted with words and binded into books.
Over time, the aluminium ions (due to dissociation from aluminium sulfate) in the paper will react with moisture in the air to produce Hydrogen Ions (H+).
These hydrogen ions break down the Cellulose in the paper (paper is organic in nature and made of cellulose) and make the paper brittle. This is the reason why the pages in old books become very fragile after long use.
Now, can we do something to slow down the rate of the papers of old books becoming fragile? ie, can we slow down the rate of reaction – can we slow down the rate of formation of Aluminium and/or Hydrogen Ions? If we can, then we can slow down the old books from becoming fragile and tattered.
Suggest methods that we can used to slow down this chemical reaction? Perhaps, you can check with some of the librarian in very old libraries? I am sure they are already doing their best to conserve and preserve these old books -by slowing down the rate of chemical reaction occurring in these old books.
PS: I would love to hear from you.
I like this post!
Was captured by the headline to read this post.
This information will add on to my common knowledge.
My guess to preserve books is perhaps reduce the level of exposure of books to air. Use a plastic wrapper around the book.