GRAPHITE

11.21.09

When Is Carbon an Electrical Conductor?

Just ask this poor pencil

By Adam Weiner Posted 09.30.2008 at 3:30 pm 13 Comments

And the $64,000 question is ... does graphite conduct electricity? It certainly does! The video demonstration displays this quite convincingly. Graphite is an interesting material, an allotrope of carbon (as is diamond). It displays properties of both metals, and nonmetals. However, like a metal, graphite is a very good conductor of electricity due to the mobility of the electrons in its outer valence shells.

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READ MORE ABOUT > carbon, conductivity, electricity, GRAPHITE, pencils, science projects, the breakdown, Video

Rev Your Ride

Seven new ways to get a state-of-the-art motorcycle experience

By Joe Brown Posted 08.16.2005 at 1:00 am 0 Comments

American motorcycles have a reputation for being low-tech machines stripped down for speed. But there´s only so much a bike can do without. So Confederate Motor Company (confederate.com) replaced every metal piece possible with a lightweight carbon-fiber one. The company hired industrial design firm Foraxis to help fabricate the new parts and produced a bike that weighs a mere 375 pounds: the B91 Wraith.

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