Knowledge in pencil

The Constitution of the Pencil brings us closer to the scientific world

With pencil you can write and draw but with pencil you can also learn and learn a lot of information. Apparently it sounds like a meaningless sentence but it is not. Knowing the composition of a pencil means experiencing science firsthand. In the true sense of the word. From geology to chemistry to physics.

Why? Well, rubber is made of synthetic rubber mixed with sulfur. But it’s the addition of pumice powder that makes the difference. Yes, because pumice, a highly porous molten rock whose specific gravity is so lower than that of water that it floats, gives rubber, with its abrasive power, its wiping power. But the tip is made of graphite, a carbon-based mineral derived from the transformation of organic matter subjected to high temperatures and pressures. Graphite is also an allotrope form of carbon, as is diamond.

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chemistry

What does it mean? Allotropy refers to the property of chemical elements existing in different forms. This is also the case for ozone (O₃), an allotropic form of oxygen. Practically the element is the same, the crystal structure changes. Let’s move on to the ring made of aluminum, a mineral with the symbol Al, obtained mainly from bauxite, a sedimentary rock rich in aluminum oxides and hydroxides Al (OH).₃Its name comes from the town of Les Baux-de-Provence, in southern France, where the chemist Berthier discovered this red rock rich in aluminum and where the first mines were opened in 1822.

But is bauxite only found in France?

no! For example, in Puglia, specifically in Otranto, there is an abandoned bauxite quarry with a pond. Also in CampaniaIn Cusano Mutri (BN), which lies within the Matese Regional Park, there are bauxite mines. From a simple pencil, how much curiosity! Who would have imagined…