Before reading any further, take a quick look to your right and left. There is a good chance while scanning the area around your computer you saw an inkjet printer. And if you are like me, your brain wonders just how the printer and the inkjet cartridges within work.

Inkjet printers have been around for about thirty years. Over this time the lucrative industry of the inkjet printer and accessories, such as ink cartridges and ink refills, have flourished.

Whether it is on inkjet toner cartridges, color ink cartridges or refill ink, the inkjet printer accessories actually make more money than the inkjet printer itself. Much like the video game industry which makes most of it's money on software as opposed to the hardware, printing companies often sell inkjet printers at a loss but make their profits on the ink and cartridge.

Creating images with small dots of ink tinier than a grain of salt, the inkjet printer is a modern marvel. Inkjet cartridges, containing hundreds of tiny nozzles spraying this ink, are equally ingenious.

The inkjet cartridge toners are available in several forms. There are ink cartridges for black ink printing and inkjet cartridges for color printing. Working together, the cartridges print an image.

It is important you choose a compatible cartridge for your inkjet printer. If you don't use compatible ink you may ruin your inkjet printer. Two main versions of inkjet printers dominate the inkjet market.

Canon inkjet toner cartridges, for example, utilize thermal bubbles when creating images. In these thermal inkjet printers, tiny resistors create heat, which vaporize the ink to create a bubble.

The bubble will then expand, pushing ink out of a nozzle onto the paper. As this ink bubble pops, a vacuum is created, pulling more ink from the print head into the cartridge. These inkjet cartridges contain as many as 600 tiny nozzles simultaneously firing droplets of ink.

Epson, though, patented a different kind of technology that uses piezo crystals. In piezoelectric printer ink cartridges, these crystals line the reservoirs of ink.

The crystal receives a message from the inkjet printer causing it to vibrate. These vibrations force tiny amounts of ink out of the cartridge's nozzles and then refill ink into the reservoirs.

Whether it's crystal or thermal, both versions of inkjet printers remain more affordable than laser printers. Instead of using nozzles like an inkjet toner cartridge, the costly laser printer relies on heat and dry ink toner cartridge to print images.

By refilling the ink cartridge with an ink cartridge refill kit, you can also save. You can also purchase cartridges refilled with ink at a discount if you do not feel like dealing with the mess of refilling an inkjet cartridge yourself.

Cartridge World, a leading retailer of printer supplies including refilled inkjet cartridges, offer a wide variety of ink and toner cartridges at a discounted price. These offer exceptional performance without sacrificing quality or the money a new inkjet printer cartridge would.

Knowing you won't have to mortgage your house to buy your print supplies, your mind can rest easy and begin to create an endless array of media. Inkjet printer cartridges can produce labels, shirt decals pictures and birthday cards.

Inkjet printers provide a wonderful world of opportunities to create and have fun. Now that you know a little more about inkjet cartridges, you can enjoy the wonder and magic of ink even more.