Seeing that pencil “leads” are made from graphite, the name doesn’t make much sense, does it?
But there once was a time when people thought graphite was a type of lead, hence the name.
Lead is extremely toxic to humans and pencils should not contain any lead, even in the wood or paint.
This is especially true if kids or young children will be using them as they tend to bite everything they see.
Related Posts
-
How are Pencils Made and How do they Put Lead Into a Pencil?
You might think that lead gets into a pencil by being inserted into a hole drilled the length of a cylindrical piece of wood, for if you look closely at a pencil, it…
-
How Is Handling Or Touching Lead Dangerous and Why Is Lead Toxic or Harmful To Children?
In general, just putting your hand on or touching lead won't hurt you. There are exceptions, like some cosmetics used in the Middle East that are absorbed through the skin, but mere skin…
-
Where does the expression “lead pipe cinch” come from and What does lead pipe cinch mean?
We borrowed "cinch" from the Spanish cincha, a saddle-girth, used by the early settlers of our present West and Southwest. And because the former girths of braided horsehair were so strong and could…
-
Why Does a Pencil Write?
Even though pencils are called "lead pencils," they do not contain lead. The material that makes a pencil write is a mixture of graphite (a kind of ground carbon), clay, wax, and chemicals.…
-
Where do the words pen, pencil, penicillin come from and What do they mean?
In spite of the fact that these names apply to writing instruments which, nowadays, look something alike, and despite the fact that the three letters of one form the first syllable of the…
-
How Does an Eraser Erase Pencil Marks?
It doesn't work like a chalkboard eraser, which wipes an accumulation of chalk off a smooth surface. Paper isn't that smooth and a pencil mark isn't all on the surface; most of it…
