Australia's Science Forum

Hi all,
I have been asked for som carbon samples for a prac testing conductivity, lustre, brittleness and heat conduction? Do you think the lead out of a pencil would do? I need it for tomorrow. If you can think of anything else that that would be more suitable let me know.
Cheers!

Do you have carbon electrodes ??

Nope

What about coal.

Or charcoal - burn the pencil!

I have some of those fire bric things that u use in the bbq how bout those?

They could be OK. Do you have any jars of Charcoal powder? and put some in a petri dish.

We just use pacer leads.

Yeah Row, just butcher some pencils, or even sharpen some at both ends. That way you can discuss why we don't have power lines made out of graphite (brittle, gets hot, etc). We often use those silver cachous that go on wedding cakes as well, without telling the kids that it is candy, not ball bearings.

Grab some charcoal sticks from the art department. Bread burnt beyond recognition could be another and there must be some burnt trees/stumps within your vicinity from recent fires. Use the charcoal from those. If you haven't got carbon electrodes pull apart some dead "C" batteries and use the electrodes from them (that process is a little labour intensive). Coal samples are also okay. You might have some among your geological samples.
Lyn.

Also go to hardware shop and buy powdered charcoal that they sell for lubricating locks