How Green Is Your Pencil?
Nifty?
http://www.re-nest.com/uimages/re-ne...perpencil2.jpg Quote:
By lead they mean graphite, but then China, who knows? |
Why do they call it pencil "lead" anyway? I find it hard to believe that lead was ever used. Lead has been used in paint to make paint whiter, but I don't think lead makes a dark pigment at all. You would want a dark color coming from a pencil.
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They did use lead and other soft metals at one time. I did some silver and gold point in school.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Silverpoint |
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And why is "lead" spelled just like "lead"?
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... because lead makes a nice leader.
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And the shininess oxides rapidly, so it would make the line dark rather quickly. See the wiki link for 'splanation.
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Having recently removed the lead from my pencil, I'm feeling greener already.
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Now if you write with lead oxide, the line won't be black like graphite, but gray. Strangely, if you write with it in Canada it won't be gray, but grey. :haha: |
So with all this talk, I figured I'd look into the pencil and lead relationship.
According to wikipedia (I know, I know) graphite has been used in pencils since somewhere in the 1500's and 1600's. Wikipedia claims that actual lead was never used in pencils, but there is no citation for that. There is a mention of lead styluses being used on papyrus, but there is also no citation given for that. But the interesting thing is that Wikipedia says that when graphite was discovered in the 1500's, the primitive chemists back then thought it was a form of lead. So they called graphite "lead." That's why pencils are said to have lead. It's simple ignorance passed down over the centuries. |
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Just ask the Indians.
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I usually like the answer. |
Not those Indians, but you're proving his point.
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