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How do erasers work?

10 Jun 2022

These days we are accustomed to pressing the delete key and a word on the screen disappears, ready to be replaced by a few keystrokes. But that doesn't mean pencils and erasers have disappeared. On...

Under the Microscope: Graphite

8 Apr 2019

Pencils do not contain any lead, and they never did! The mistake in terminology can be traced back to the ancient Romans who drew lines on papyrus using pieces of actual lead, all the while not...

What is the link between diamond, graphite and buckyballs?

20 Mar 2017

They are all composed only of carbon. What determines the properties of any substance? Simple. The properties of any substance depend on the type and number of atoms they are composed of, and of...

Pencils never contained lead.

22 Feb 2017

This may come as a shock to some people but lead pencils do not contain any lead.  Never did.

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