Lead pencil crisis....

[kevins_bebe]

Re: Lead pencil crisis....

i'd much rather use wooden pencils. i don't care for mech. pencils because they always get stolen where i am. and i don't mind getting out of my desk and sharpening my pencils. but for me.. i get like 6 pencils sharpened and then i bring all that... instead of walking back and forth every five minutes.

[jamuko]

Re: Lead pencil crisis....

Even with .5 pencils, I'm always rotating it so I can get the sharpest edge. :/

[JurseyRider734]

Re: Lead pencil crisis....

.9 isn't really that thick, Kilga. I dunno if you were saying WTF to that or not. The highest thickness of mechanical pencil graphite goes is 2.0, but you rarely see it. It's used for artwork, designing, etc.

And yeah, graphite started to be used around 1820...soo...it seems pretty ignorant for someone to call them "lead pencils".

It's actually graphite + clay. The less clay, the darker the pencil mark will be.

[jamuko]

Re: Lead pencil crisis....

Yeah, it bugged me too that mechanical pencils were being referred to as "lead pencils" when really any pencil including wooden is a "lead" pencil (yes, even though it's no longer made of actual lead), but I didn't point it out because I didn't want to be pretentious about it. :/

But really, everyone calls those little graphite sticks "lead". Everyone knows it's not actually lead, but it's just one of those terms that stuck anyway. There's nothing wrong with calling them that.

Edit: it's even in the dictionary.

lead2 /lɛd/ Pronunciation Key - Show Spelled Pronunciation[led] Pronunciation Key - Show IPA Pronunciation
–noun
...
5. black lead or graphite.
6. a small stick of graphite, as used in pencils.

[meiloyn]

Re: Lead pencil crisis....

How is it a habit? I doubt you were alive when lead was used in pencils.

The reason why we call graphite lead is because other people do. Same reason why I have a mild prep accent: from listening to preps talk and scream at each other all the time, which appears to be all they do. (I say 'like' more often than I need to and I'm starting to say 'oh my god' more) Ugh. They make my head ache just thinking about them.

It's actually graphite + clay. The less clay, the darker the pencil mark will be.

I know this. Pencil is the only physical medium I actually work with, and I use two weights: 3H and HB. (Sometimes I use charcoal, but that's rare so it doesn't count)

[Chrissi]

Re: Lead pencil crisis....

.5 or .7. I have .5s right now. In the past I've used .7s. I've never seen or heard of .9 or .3 before this. I'd be interested in .3. I didn't know they had anything EXCEPT HB leads... I thought that's just what people called them or it was a brand or something. Now I know it refers to the weight.

I never have a problem with my lead breaking anymore. I used to but I guess I just changed to a shorter tip.

I also hate wooden pencils. Can't stand them. I don't think anybody even uses them at university - I almost forgot that they existed. I don't see pencil sharpeners ANYWHERE. Wooden pencils are so inconvenient and unreliable.

[Shashakiro]

Re: Lead pencil crisis....

Also, does anyone know a guess-free method to finding the square root of an unfamiliar number without having to use a calculator? I'm asking because if this guessing game keeps up, I'm going to fail the future test, or at least manage to answer 4 questions by the time class is over.

There is no way that you'd be able to do on a test, sans memorization.

I doubt your teacher will ask you to know the square root of anything above 625 that doesn't end in 0, so just memorize everything up to that if you're worried.

[Serdash]

Re: Lead pencil crisis....

They are useless when you have to write numbers in fraction form. They come out too blurry to read.

Solution = write larger numbers.
(Yes, I realize the discussion has somewhat strayed from the original topic and has gone to lead and stuff.)