You probably don’t know it but you have used graphite to write exams and relied on it to keep your electronics powered up.

Graphite is also the reason we discovered the wonder material graphene, which is considered to be the world's thinnest, strongest and most conductive material.

Here is everything you ever wanted to know about ... GRAPHITE!

FAST FACTS!

  • “Lead” pencils do not actually have lead in them. Graphite is the dark material that marks the paper in what we call lead pencils.
  • Graphite is made of layers of carbon atoms. These layers can slide over each other very easily. This means that graphite is very soft.
  • Graphite is a key ingredient in lithium batteries, which are essential for electric vehicles and other battery-powered devices.
  • Graphite can be turned into diamond with enough heat and pressure. This is how synthetic (man-made) diamonds are made.
  • Graphene, which can be derived from graphite, is the thinnest material ever devised — a pile of a million sheets of graphene would only stand as tall as the thickness of a human hair. Despite this, it is 200 times stronger than steel, and the most conductive material in the world.