2007-01-24 16:47:29 · 11 answers · asked by Anonymous in Arts & Humanities ➔ Visual Arts ➔ Drawing & Illustration
Today, the marking material is graphite mixed with clay, but many years ago, it was actually made of lead.
2007-01-24 16:52:56 · answer #1 · answered by Bill P 5 · 4⤊ 2⤋
The first pencil was made using pure Graphite. This was later mixed with clay to make it harder. When the first deposits of Graphite were found in Borrowdale in the 1500's it was thought, because of the colour, that it was Lead. This is the only reason lead pencils are so called. They have never been made of Lead. The Romans used a lead Stylus to scratch onto papyrus, this could be another explanation why the name still lingers.
2007-01-24 17:59:30 · answer #2 · answered by ☞H.Potter☜ 6 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Because, when graphite was first discovered they thought they had found lead, its a similar colour. Lead is a metal and will not make markes like graphite. Pencils have never been made from lead, they revolutionised mark making as they were much more durable and cleaner to use than the charcoal which had been used before then.
2007-01-27 06:12:20 · answer #3 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
Pencils have never been made of lead, because lead does not make a mark. The first graphite used to make letters and other marks was found in Borrowdale, Cumbria, England, in the roots of a tree that had been overturned by a windstorm in the early 1500s. The locals did not know what graphite was, and neither did the royal chemists at first, so they mistakenly called the dull grey substance "lead" because that's what it resembled. The name has stuck even though we now know graphite is nothing like lead.
2007-01-24 17:02:08 · answer #4 · answered by nbsandiego 4 · 1⤊ 1⤋
" Contrary to popular belief, pencil leads in wooden pencils ****have never been made from lead****. The term comes from the Roman stylus, called the penicillus, which was made of lead without a wooden holder. When the pencil originated as a wrapped graphite writing tool, the particular type of graphite being used was named plumbago (in place of lead)."
2016-05-24 06:36:15 · answer #5 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
maybe because it is at the lead of the pencil cause even the end of a pen is ccalled lead
im not sure but i think that is why it is called lead
2007-01-24 16:55:35 · answer #6 · answered by forevercool1991 1 · 0⤊ 1⤋
... and why is "monosyllable" not a one-syllab word ?
Traditionally drawers used lead pencils that were made of lead, but it is now forbidden to use lead in any drawing or painting materials, including oil tubes.
2007-01-24 20:22:30 · answer #7 · answered by jacquesh2001 6 · 0⤊ 1⤋
It had the properties of lead, and it wasn't until 1779 that they determined it indeed was carbon not lead. See link.
-Dio
2007-01-24 16:59:54 · answer #8 · answered by diogenese19348 6 · 1⤊ 1⤋
first ones must have had real lead, graphite works better anyway.
2007-01-24 18:46:38 · answer #9 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 1⤋
It is because of stubborness to change.
2007-01-24 17:21:51 · answer #10 · answered by kagome679 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋