Why You Used to Have to Use Number 2 Pencils on Scantrons (and Why Pencil "Lead" is Called Lead)

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In the 16th century, a large deposit of pure, solid graphite was discovered in Borrowdale, England. This was the first time in recorded history that high quality, solid graphite had been found. When metallurgists first encountered this substance, they thought it was some sort of black lead, rather than a form of carbon. Thus, they called it “plumbago”, which is derived from “plumbum”, which is Latin for “lead”.

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Sources:

http://www.pencils.com/unleaded-pencil
http://www.pencils.com/pencil-history
http://www.abc.net.au/science/article...
http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?t...
http://www.todayifoundout.com/index.p...
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pencil
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lead
http://www.mentalfloss.com/blogs/arch...
http://www.objectlessons.org/index.ph...
http://www.penciltalk.org/images/penc...

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