How dry is paper?

I guess it depends on where the paper is and what it has been exposed to. I’d imagine if you pull a brand new piece of computer paper out of its packaging, it would be vitually moisture-less.

Is moisture-less a word?

A guy happened through my line yesterday at work. He told me paper has 6% moisture.

Moisture Content is the amount of water contained in paper expressed as a percentage of the paper’s total weight. The primary constituents of paper, fibers of cellulose, have a strong affinity for water, and will gain (or lose) it readily, depending on the amount of moisture in the air, or the relative humidity of the surrounding environment. This hygroscopic characteristic of paper makes it dimensionally unstable, as the length and/or width of a paper can change depending on how much water the paper has gained or lost. The moisture content of paper also affects its various mechanical, surface, and electrical properties, and contributes to the qualities of printability and runnability in the various printing processes.

Generally, a range of 3% to 7% is average for the moisture content present in paper stock.

For that matter is metal dry?

How does this compare to pasta?

How about a bouncy ball?

For certain printing processes you need the paper dryer—it’s generally accomplished by heating the paper to keep it more dry

Some of the humour in my local paper is quite witty yes.

Metal does not contain moisture as any natural liquid will burn off in the smelting process.

I don’t think paper or metal is palatable under shrimp scampi or vodka sauce.

Pasta moisture is some big occupation, I understand. master jokers

@njnyjobs Metal can be hydroscopic, but it generally reacts with the surface water to form oxides rather than absorbing water itself.

@Ltryptophan From random web searches, it looks like dry pasta has something like 3%-10% water content by weight.

@grumpyfish then would you say that it has moisture content, other than moisture a metal is exposed to superficially? I can understand how paper has water content because it is actually used in the whole paper-making process. but in metallurgy, you have to liquify metal ores under extreme heat, too much heat for most liquids to maintain its natural molecular structure.

@njnyjobs Generally metal has no water content. E.g., it might be wet, but it doesn’t have a water content.

Metal coming out of a caster at +1000C doesn’t have any water content, but some metals (cast iron, for one) can be very porous, and can absorb liquids. Additionally sinterned bronze for instance is porous enough for oil to be absorbed into it (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sintering#Sintering_of_metallic_powders )

Dry enough to do the job

If you got it completely dry (which you can do), it would be great tinder for starting a fire.

I think right out of the manufacturing plant, the paper may have the rated moisture content, but that if it is in a super humid area like where I live and it is sitting around for a while, the moisture content goes up, up, up.

My understanding is that when metal corrodes, it can become porous and thus hold water.