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by perihelions
1525 days ago
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Some early writing implements actually did use lead (Pb). Here's something da Vinci sketched in leadpoint (in part): https://www.britishmuseum.org/collection/object/P_1860-0616-... Really looks like modern (graphite) pencil, doesn't it? (Unless I've misunderstood which parts are lead and which aren't -- but I think I've interpreted it right). edit: Here's a technical article about how you can positively identify lead (Pb) in medieval drawings, and distinguish it from silver and other metals. (In case anyone was still skeptical). They show a variety of other examples. https://sci-hub.se/10.1179/sic.2009.54.2.106 ("A Note on the Examination of Silverpoint Drawings by Near-Infrared Reflectography") |
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Anecdote: In ~5th grade science class, we had a folded sheet of metallic lead that was passed around for students to handle. I suspect this practice has been discontinued!
At the time, I thought pencils contained real lead (Pb), so I tried to use the lead sheet to mark paper. It worked well! But not as well as (and had different marking characteristics from) a regular pencil. I assumed the improvements were part of the productization, but that the pencil still used real lead.
Wikipedia says, on the discovery of naturally-occurring graphite:
> Chemistry was in its infancy and the substance was thought to be a form of lead. Consequently, it was called plumbago (Latin for "lead ore").
It's funny how names stick. 500 years and counting on this one.