why do papercuts hurt so damn bad?
In: 3
The papercut is just deep enough to expose nerve endings that signal pain but not deep enough to break blood vessels that cover and seal the cut with blood.
Those exposed nerve endings just keep sending pain signals.
Paper cuts do two things:
1. Lacetate (saw) tissie, which disturbs pain receptors; and
2. Deposits remnants of bleaching chemicals into the cut which makes it sting more.
Because paper is surprisingly rough and damaging.
Cut yourself with a very sharp knife, and the fact that the blade cuts so easily and smoothly works in your favour – it will cut cleanly through your skin with the minimum of damage, which results in less pain.
Look at paper under a microscope however, and you will find that it doesn’t have the smooth, fine edge of a nice blade, but it’s made up of lots of woody fibres jumbled up – just imagine a sheet of plywood or similar timber products, just on a much, much smaller scale and you have something approaching paper. This means that instead of cleaning cutting your skin, it tears it apart more like a saw ripping wood than a knife cleanly cutting. This means your skin (and all of the nerves hidden within it) get ripped and torn up, and the more damage caused, the more pain you feel.
Our hands and fingers contain bunches of sensitive nerves, and the rough microscopic composition of paper means that paper cuts can be agonizing. 😭
[Source](https://www.livescience.com/paper-cuts-pain)
Latest Answers