Photocopier

machines · office tech · electricity

Electric magic happens. Photocopiers use a special technology called xerography that creates an electric charge on a light-sensitive drum, kind of like how static electricity makes your hair stick up.

Toner makes the image. Tiny particles of toner (a powder, not liquid ink) stick to the charged parts of the drum and get transferred onto paper in the exact shape of your original document.

Heat seals it all. The toner needs heat and pressure to permanently stick to the paper, which is why photocopiers have hot rollers inside that fuse the powder onto the sheet.

Fast and cheap copies. Xerography is so efficient that it became the standard way offices make copies because it's quick, uses little toner, and doesn't cost much per page.

Light reads the original. A bright light scans across your document to detect where the dark and light areas are, so the machine knows exactly where to put toner on the copy.