Pencils Graphite facts
While investigating facts about Pencils Graphite Sketch Set and Pencils Graphite Vs Lead, I found out little known, but curios details like:
Pencils are yellow because in the 19th century, the best graphite came from China. Because yellow was a royal colour in China, pencil companies began to colour their pencils yellow to show both high quality and an association with China.
how to use graphite pencils?
The reason why NASA (and later the Russians) use a specialised space pen instead of pencil in space is because the graphite of pencils is conductive and can cause short circuits and even fires. The pens have been used since the Apollo era and are still being used right now on the ISS.
What are graphite pencils used for?
In my opinion, it is useful to put together a list of the most interesting details from trusted sources that I've come across answering what is in pencils lead or graphite. Here are 29 of the best facts about Pencils Graphite Safe and Pencils Graphite H I managed to collect.
what are graphite pencils?
-
Pencils are painted yellow because in the 1890s, China had the best graphite in the world, and China associates the color yellow with royalty and respect.
-
The average pencil holds enough graphite to draw a line about 35 miles long or to write roughly 45,000 words
-
Safety concerns about "pencil lead" were actually about lead being in the yellow paint on the pencils. Graphite has always been used as the core, and there was never a "lead" pencil in this century
-
The pencil has been around since the 1500's, and have always been made with graphite. Pencils have never contained lead.
-
Pencils are yellow because American pencil makers wanted people to know they contained Chinese graphite
-
Pencils never actually contained lead, people just called it that cause they thought graphite was a type of lead.
-
Pencils never contained lead; we call it lead because graphite was at first believed to be a type of lead.
-
The average pencil holds enough graphite to draw a line about 35 miles long or to write roughly 45,000 words.
-
Colored pencils don't actually use graphite. Rather, they are wax-based. This wax can dull the regular pencil sharpener blades and gunk the sharpener up.
Why can graphite be used in pencils?
You can easily fact check why do we use graphite in pencils by examining the linked well-known sources.
Rubbing pencil graphite on the top strap of a revolver, just above the cylinder gap, will reduce what is called "flame cutting" (where the hot gasses from the round scorches the metal and wears it down) due to graphite's natural heat resistance.
Pencils are yellow because American pencil manufacturers wanted to let people know that their pencils contained Chinese graphite. In addition, American pencil manufacturers used yellow to communicated the "regal" feeling of royalty and respect that yellow is associated in China. - source
Pencils cannot be used in space because the graphite dust and particles they generate pose fire, puncture and inhalation hazards in a low-gravity, high-oxygen environment. - source
Pencils have never contained lead in their cores, only graphite. The term "pencil lead" stems from the discovery of a large deposit of graphite in the 16th century that was mistakenly thought to be a form of lead.
When did pencils switch to graphite?
For at least a century until 1662, Britain held a monopoly on pencils; graphite had to be mined and the only viable ore was located in Cumbria
How to draw with graphite pencils?
Diamonds are not forever. Under normal conditions (25°C - 1atm), carbon is more thermodynamically stable as graphite (pencil lead). Eventually, all diamonds will become graphite.
Pencils are diamagnetic, because of the 'pencil lead' (graphite).
The No. on the pencil refers to the darkness of the shading according to the Graphite Grading Scale
How pencils are made ... and that the 'lead' in them is really graphite and clay.
