GRAPHITE AND DIAMOND

Graphite and diamond are both forms of pure carbon.

The graphite that we use in our pencils and the diamond that we wear on our fingers is the same stuff.  It is just that their molecular structure is slightly different.  While diamond is structured as a tetrahedron (think Bucky Fuller), graphite is structured in layers.  Because of this layering, the graphite flows from the pencil to the paper.

It is amazing that pure carbon can occupy such divergent points in our culture.  While reading Stuff Matters by Mark Miodownik, he makes an interesting comparison of the two carbons.

He describes tells the story where his art professor drew a line with a graphite pencil.

“’I’ve transferred atoms from the pencil to the paper,” he observed.  He then gave us a speech about the wonders of graphite as a material for artistic expression.  “It is important to note,” he sad, “that although diamond is culturally revered as the superior form of carbon, it is in fact incapable of deep expression, and unlike graphite no good art can come from diamond.’”  1

The cultural battle between the inexpensive graphite and costly diamond has been ongoing since the beginning.  While diamond has won out till now, graphite may be ascendant.  Carbon fiber, which is made by spinning graphite into a fiber, is proving to be a new wonder material.  They make airplanes out of it now.
So the lowly graphite in our pencils is serving to transform the world.  Just as it always has;  think of how many ideas graphite on paper has facilitated.

And then it turns out that graphite gets the last laugh.  For in fact, diamond, as it sits on your finger and in the museums of the world, is slowly decaying.  And what does diamond decay to?  You guessed it.  Graphite.  The decay process will take billions of years.  P165.

It is somehow comforting to know that in the end, graphite wins.

1. Miodownik, Mark.  Stuff Matters.  Houghton Mifflin Harcourt:  New York.  2013.  p160.