How does a printer work?

A heater boils ink into a bubble in three millionths of a second. A laser draws your page in static electricity. Every printer turns a page into millions of tiny dots. An inkjet pulls paper past a carriage that sweeps a printhead full of nozzles across it.

Read how it works: How does a printer work? · The history of the printer · More boxes on Glassbox

Chapters in this interactive model

1. Inside two printers: An inkjet squirts tiny drops of liquid ink. A laser printer paints with static electricity and melts powder onto the page.
2. Boiling ink into drops: A heater the size of a speck of dust boils ink for a few millionths of a second, and the bubble throws out one drop.
3. Four inks, millions of dots: A printer can only put a dot or leave paper blank. Halftoning turns that yes-or-no into every shade you can see.
4. Painting with static: A laser draws the page as a pattern of electric charge. Powder sticks to the pattern and is melted onto paper.
5. Pins, heat and plastic: The dot-matrix printer at the bank, the receipt printer at the shop, and the 3D printer that prints things you can hold.
6. Why ink costs so much: The printer is often cheap and the ink is not. Work out what your printing really costs.