Tearing is the act of breaking apart a material by force, without the aid of a cutting tool. A tear in a piece of paper, fabric, or some other similar object may be the result of the intentional effort with one's bare hands, or be accidental. Unlike a cut, which is generally on a straight or patterned line controlled by a tool such as scissors, a tear is generally uneven and, for the most part, unplanned. An exception is a tear along a perforated line, as found on a roll of toilet paper or paper towels, which has been previously partially cut, so the effort of tearing will probably produce a straight line.
Materials vary in their susceptibility to tearing. Some materials may be quite resistant to tearing when they are in their full form, but when a small cut or tear is made, the material becomes compromised, and the effort needed to continue tearing along that line becomes less.
