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Graphite: A Carbon Allotrope
Graphite: A Carbon Allotrope
Properties
Uses
-Pencils (In ancient Greece styluses)
-Industrial uses in dealing with corrosive substances
-Graphene (A mostly undiscovered substance. Extremely strong, light, flexible; potential to replace silicon in computer components in the future.)
-Lubricant
-Thermal Shielding
-Synthetic Diamonds
Physical Properties
History
Graphite:
-Is grey to black in color.
-Is opaque
-Has a slight metallic luster
-Has a black streak
-Is very soft
-Is flexible, but not elastic
-Solid at room temperature
-Feels greasy to the touch
Molecular Structure
Chemical Properties
-Crystalline
-Thin sheets
Covalent Bonds
-Forms Hexagons
-Parallel Layers
-120° Bond Angles
Relation of Molecular Structure to Uses
Graphite:
-Conducts electricity
-Is stable
-Non-flammable
-Combustible
-Violent reaction with strong oxidizing agents
-Inert in bulk form
Although graphite was used as early as the Neolithic era, it first came into popular use in 1564. Though it had previously been excavated 200 years earlier in Bavaria, it was not widely exploited until its discovery in Borrowdale, England. Throughout the next several centuries, graphite gained popularity, particularly as a writing utensil. In 1662, in Nuremberg, Germany, the first mass pencils were produced. By 1897, the process to create synthetic graphite was revealed, and thus pencils (and other graphite products. The largest source of graphite in the US was located in Ticonderoga, New York, but was eventually exhausted. The US now relies on external sources for graphite.
Graphite is particularly flaky due to its parallel, layered structure. This allows it to be used both as a writing tool and a a lubricant, because small flakes of the graphite are easily able to come off and either a) smudge paper, or b) reduce friction between objects.