the.com/graphite
the softest member of the carbon family, one bad day from becoming a diamond
means A soft, gray, slippery form of pure carbon used in pencil leads, lubricants, and electrodes, made of carbon atoms stacked in flaky sheets.
from Coined from the Greek 'graphein,' to write — the same root behind 'graph,' 'paragraph,' and 'autograph' — and named for the obvious reason: this is the stuff that leaves a mark on paper. The name was minted in the late 18th century by a German chemist, replacing the old confusion in which graphite was lumped together with lead (hence we still say 'pencil lead' for something with no lead in it at all).
- same as diamond
- Pure carbon, just arranged lazier
- writes and lubricates
- Slippery layers slide off onto your page
- conducts
- A nonmetal that carries electricity anyway
- pencil myth
- No lead inside, never was
- reactor duty
- Slowed neutrons in the first nuclear pile
siberian graphite deposits — russia's largest graphite reserves, particularly in yakutia region, containing ~30% of world's known graphite
battery anode demand — electric vehicle batteries require graphite anodes; demand projected to grow 25x by 2040
pencil graphite core — not actually graphite but a mixture of graphite and clay; historically confused since discovery in borrowdale, england in 1564