{"id":3491,"date":"2010-11-24T06:00:24","date_gmt":"2010-11-24T14:00:24","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.todayifoundout.com\/?p=3491"},"modified":"2015-01-28T01:08:51","modified_gmt":"2015-01-28T09:08:51","slug":"why-pencil-lead-is-called-lead","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.todayifoundout.com\/index.php\/2010\/11\/why-pencil-lead-is-called-lead\/","title":{"rendered":"Why Pencil &#8220;Lead&#8221; is Called &#8220;Lead&#8221;"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"pf-content\"><div class=\"highlighter\">Karen asks: Why is pencil lead called lead when it doesn&#8217;t contain any?<\/div>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.todayifoundout.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/11\/pencil-lead.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignright size-full wp-image-3593\" title=\"Pencil Lead\" src=\"http:\/\/www.todayifoundout.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/11\/pencil-lead-e1290608744202.jpg\" alt=\"Pencil Lead\" width=\"330\" height=\"233\" \/><\/a>In the 16th century, a large deposit of pure, solid graphite was discovered in Borrowdale, England.\u00a0 This was the first time in recorded history that high quality, solid graphite had been found.\u00a0 When metallurgists first encountered this substance, they thought it was some sort of black lead, rather than a form of carbon.\u00a0 Thus, they called it &#8220;plumbago&#8221;, which is derived from &#8220;plumbum&#8221;, which is Latin for &#8220;lead&#8221;.<\/p>\n<p>It didn&#8217;t take people long to realize that solid sticks of high quality graphite were good for marking things. At that point, this newly discovered substance from the mines of Borrowdale became extremely valuable.\u00a0 So much so that guards were eventually posted at the entrance to the mine and laws were passed to stop people from stealing the solid graphite.\u00a0 In addition, once a sufficient stock of the graphite was mined, the mine itself would be flooded until more graphite was needed.<\/p>\n<p>Of course, sticks of pure graphite are fairly brittle, so people started embedding them in various things such as hollowed out pieces of wood and also simply wrapped tightly in sheep skin.\u00a0 Thus, the pencil was officially born with a core of solid graphite, which was known then as black lead.\u00a0 The tradition of calling sticks of graphite &#8220;lead&#8221; has endured to this day.<\/p>\n<p>If you liked this article, you might also enjoy our new popular podcast, The BrainFood Show (<a href=\"https:\/\/itunes.apple.com\/us\/podcast\/the-brainfoodshow\/id1350586459\" rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\">iTunes<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/open.spotify.com\/show\/36xpXQMPVXhWJzMoCHPJKd\" target=\"_blank\">Spotify<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/playmusic.app.goo.gl\/?ibi=com.google.PlayMusic&#038;isi=691797987&#038;ius=googleplaymusic&#038;apn=com.google.android.music&#038;link=https:\/\/play.google.com\/music\/m\/Insimdi4g6puyyr4qbt6tup5b6m?t%3DThe_BrainFood_Show%26pcampaignid%3DMKT-na-all-co-pr-mu-pod-16\" rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\">Google Play Music<\/a>, <a href=\"http:\/\/www.todayifoundout.com\/index.php\/feed\/brainfood\/\" target=\"_blank\">Feed<\/a>), as well as:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/www.todayifoundout.com\/index.php\/2014\/08\/origin-ballpoint-pen\/\" target=\"_blank\">A Brief History of the Ballpoint Pen and Whether NASA Really Spent Millions Developing a Pressurized Version Instead of Just Using Pencils<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/www.todayifoundout.com\/index.php\/2010\/10\/why-you-used-to-have-to-use-2-pencils-with-scantron-forms\/\" target=\"_blank\">Why You Used to Have to Use #2 Pencils With Scantron Forms<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/www.todayifoundout.com\/index.php\/2011\/07\/where-the-words-crayola-and-crayon-come-from\/\" target=\"_blank\">Where the Words \u201cCrayola\u201d and \u201cCrayon\u201d Come From<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/www.todayifoundout.com\/index.php\/2015\/01\/rubber-band-holding-together-since-1820\/\" target=\"_blank\">The Rubber Band: Holding It Together Since 1820<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><span id=\"bonusfacts\">Bonus<\/span> Facts:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>English speakers aren&#8217;t the only ones who still follow this misnomer.\u00a0 The German word for &#8220;pencil&#8221; is actually &#8220;bleistifit&#8221;, which literally means &#8220;lead stick&#8221;.<\/li>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/www.todayifoundout.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/11\/roman-stylus.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignright size-full wp-image-3594\" title=\"Roman Stylus\" src=\"http:\/\/www.todayifoundout.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/11\/roman-stylus-e1290608820197.jpg\" alt=\"Roman Stylus\" width=\"300\" height=\"423\" \/><\/a>There was a form of writing instrument before the pencil called a stylus that sometimes was made of lead.\u00a0 The stylus was a thin rod used originally by the Ancient Romans, and later by many others, for writing without ink.\u00a0 The stylus was made with a very sharp point and could be used to write on wax tablets.\u00a0 This was also a reusable form of writing in two ways.\u00a0 First, each stylus generally had a blunt end for rubbing out some bit of writing on the wax.\u00a0 Second, the entire wax tabled could be &#8220;erased&#8221; by simply warming up the wax sufficiently until the writing disappeared.\u00a0 These stylus, which were occasionally made of lead due to its cheapness and how easy it is to work with, are sometimes said to be why we call pencil cores lead.\u00a0 In fact, though, it is as stated above-\u00a0 simply that people mistook graphite for a form of lead.<\/li>\n<li>\u201cPencil\u201d comes from the Latin \u201cpencillus\u201d, meaning \u201clittle tail\u201d.<\/li>\n<li>Graphite deposits have been found elsewhere, but nothing close to the purity and quality of the English find. Due to the impurities in these other deposits, the graphite from these must be crushed into a powder to filter out the unwanted bits.\u00a0 Eventually, a method was found to use this powder in pencil form, by using clay as a binding agent.\u00a0 But before then, England had a monopoly on the world\u2019s pencil supplies because only their graphite deposit could be cut and made into high quality pencil form, without any other processing needed.<\/li>\n<li>The method for being able to use graphite powder for use in pencils was independently discovered by both Frenchman Nicholas Jacques Cont\u00e9, in 1795, and Austrian Joseph Hardtmuth, around 1790.\u00a0\u00a0 During the Napoleonic Wars, France wasn\u2019t able to import pencils from Great Britain, which had the only supply of pure solid graphite in the world.\u00a0 Nicholas Jacques Cont\u00e9, who was an officer in the army, discovered that if you mix the graphite powder with clay, you can then form this mixture into sticks and fire this substance in a kiln.\u00a0 You also can vary the clay\/graphite ratio to achieve different levels of hardness and darkness.\u00a0 This is more or less exactly how pencil cores are made to this day.<\/li>\n<li>Cont\u00e9 was also the one that came up with the system to use numbers to signify the grade of the pencil, in terms of the hardness\/darkness of the core.\u00a0 This system was later adopted in the United States and is known as the Cont\u00e9\/Thoreau system (John Thoreau being the one who helped introduce it to the U.S.).\u00a0 This system, translated to the European system, is as follows: #1 = B; #2 = HB; #2.5 = F; #3 = H; #4 = 2H.<\/li>\n<li>In the European system, B stands for \u201cBlack\u201d and \u201cH\u201d stands for \u201cHard\u201d.\u00a0 The more B\u2019s, the softer the lead and darker.\u00a0 The more H\u2019s, the harder and lighter the lead.<\/li>\n<li>The tradition to paint pencils yellow was started in 1890 by the L. &amp; C. Hardtmuth Company of Austria-Hungary.\u00a0 In 1890, they introduced the Koh-I-Noor brand of pencil, which was a top-tier pencil.\u00a0 The name itself was after the famed diamond.\u00a0 This pencil was extremely popular, due to its high quality. Thus, many other manufacturers copied the color to make their pencils look like\u00a0 Koh-I-Noor brand pencils. Today, yellow is the most popular outer pencil color in the United States and various other countries.\u00a0 However, in Germany and Brazil, green is the most popular color.\u00a0 In Australia and India, red with black bands at one end wins out.<\/li>\n<li>A certain type of lead (tetraethyl lead) was once commonly used in gasoline in order to reduce engine knocking (For more on this, see: <a href=\"http:\/\/www.todayifoundout.com\/index.php\/2011\/11\/why-lead-used-to-be-added-to-gasoline\/\" target=\"_blank\">Why Was Lead Added to Gasoline<\/a>).\u00a0 However, this had the negative side effect of releasing massive amounts of lead into the air, which is of course toxic to humans and to the environment in general.\u00a0 So &#8220;Regular&#8221; gasoline has been phased out in most of the world in favor of &#8220;Unleaded&#8221;.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<span class=\"collapseomatic \" id=\"id69f155b43dc36\"  tabindex=\"0\" title=\"Expand for References:\"    >Expand for References:<\/span><div id=\"target-id69f155b43dc36\" class=\"collapseomatic_content \">\n<ul>\n<li><a title=\"The Unleaded Pencil\" href=\"http:\/\/www.pencils.com\/unleaded-pencil\" target=\"_blank\">The Unleaded Pencil<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a title=\"Pencil History\" href=\"http:\/\/www.pencils.com\/pencil-history\" target=\"_blank\">Pencil History<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a title=\"Lead in Your Pencil\" href=\"http:\/\/www.abc.net.au\/science\/articles\/2004\/09\/09\/1195234.htm\" target=\"_blank\">Lead in Your Pencil<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a title=\"Etymology of Lead\" href=\"http:\/\/www.etymonline.com\/index.php?term=lead\" target=\"_blank\">Etymology of Lead<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a title=\"Why You Used to Have to Use #2 Pencils With Scantrons\" href=\"http:\/\/www.todayifoundout.com\/index.php\/2010\/10\/why-you-used-to-have-to-use-2-pencils-with-scantron-forms\/\" target=\"_blank\">Why You Used to Have to Use #2 Pencils With Scantrons<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a title=\"Pencil\" href=\"http:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Pencil\" target=\"_blank\">Pencil<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a title=\"Lead\" href=\"http:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Lead\" target=\"_blank\">Lead<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a title=\"What Makes #2 Pencils So Special\" href=\"http:\/\/www.mentalfloss.com\/blogs\/archives\/57276\" target=\"_blank\">What Makes #2 Pencils So Special?<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a title=\"Roman Wax Tablet and Stylus\" href=\"http:\/\/www.objectlessons.org\/index.php?mod=PageMod.showComponent&amp;section_id=5&amp;category_id=19&amp;component_id=146&amp;component_type=feature\" target=\"_blank\">Roman Wax Tablet and Stylus<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a title=\"Image Source\" href=\"http:\/\/www.penciltalk.org\/images\/penciltalk.org.leads.4.jpg\" target=\"_blank\">Image Source<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Karen asks: Why is pencil lead called lead when it doesn&#8217;t contain any? In the 16th century, a large deposit of pure, solid graphite was discovered in Borrowdale, England.\u00a0 This was the first time in recorded history that high quality, solid graphite had been found.\u00a0 When metallurgists first encountered this substance, they thought it was some sort of black lead, [&#8230;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":3594,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3,7],"tags":[1053],"class_list":["post-3491","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-today-i-found-out","category-language","tag-etymology-pencil-lead"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.todayifoundout.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3491","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.todayifoundout.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.todayifoundout.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.todayifoundout.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.todayifoundout.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3491"}],"version-history":[{"count":16,"href":"http:\/\/www.todayifoundout.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3491\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":38818,"href":"http:\/\/www.todayifoundout.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3491\/revisions\/38818"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.todayifoundout.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3594"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.todayifoundout.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3491"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.todayifoundout.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3491"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.todayifoundout.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3491"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}