Please Help - weird question but important!?

Question

What substances are in a lead pencil and why does it conduct electricity. Please help, its for homework and i can't find it!! 10 points to best answer!!

Answer 1

I believe there is lead and graphite in the pencil's innards I know lead is a metal that is about as conductive as gold, and they do make gold conductors,but lead is too fragile for conductors, I am not sure about graphite but it is carbon based just like we are so that too might be easy for electricity to pass through. I am sure Wikipedia under electricity or conductive materials will give you a better explanation. Hope this helps though.

Answer 2

Lead. & It conducts electricity because lead is a very soft metal and metals conduct electricity. :)

Answer 3

It's the graphite in a lead pencil that conducts electricity because some of its electrons are loosely held and are spread out over graphite's network of pi molecular orbitals.

See Question Q-10

http://invsee.asu.edu/nmodules/Carbonmod...

Answer 4

I do not know off hand but i can suggest you a website. click on the link given in source.

Answer 5

Errm god i looked it up and... i hope this is right but..

'pencil lead isn't really lead, it's a nontoxic mixture of graphite and clay.'

And...

'Graphites structure forces one electron to leave each carbon atom. They then become free electrons and are now free to move and therefore conduct electricty.'

I'm guessing that would be why, because graphite is in a lead pencil :)

hope i helped like..

xo

Answer 6

LOL wikipedia FTW! i saw the answer somewhere in there. random? points?

Answer 7

its graphite -- and they do conduct minimal amount of electricity.

look it up :D  

Answer 8

As far as I know, it's Graphite

Graphite can conduct electricity due to the vast electron delocalization within the carbon layers. These valence electrons are free to move, so are able to conduct electricity. However, the electricity is only conducted within the plane of the layers.

Answer 9

"lead" pencils are not actually made up of lead, it is made instead of graphite, clay and a pigment. Graphite's chemical context is carbon. It is the most stable form of carbon under normal conditions. It is in fact able to conduct electricity. It is also the highest grade of coal and has different grades depending on the softness of the graphite.