why do papercuts hurt so damn bad?
In: 3
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.
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