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graphite
[ graf-ahyt ]
noun
- a very common mineral, soft native carbon, occurring in black to dark-gray foliated masses, with metallic luster and greasy feel: used for pencil leads, as a lubricant, and for making crucibles and other refractories; plumbago; black lead.
graphite
/ ˈɡræfaɪt; ɡrəˈfɪtɪk /
noun
- a blackish soft allotropic form of carbon in hexagonal crystalline form: used in pencils, crucibles, and electrodes, as a lubricant, as a moderator in nuclear reactors, and, in a carbon fibre form, as a tough lightweight material for sporting equipment Also calledplumbago
graphite
/ grăf′īt′ /
- A naturally occurring, steel-gray to black, crystalline form of carbon. The carbon atoms in graphite are strongly bonded together in sheets. Because the bonds between the sheets are weak, other atoms can easily fit between them, causing graphite to be soft and slippery to the touch. Graphite is used in pencils and paints and as a lubricant and electrode. It is also used to control chain reactions in nuclear reactors because of its ability to absorb neutrons.
Derived Forms
- graphitic, adjective
Other Words From
- gra·phit·ic [gr, uh, -, fit, -ik], adjective
- nongra·phitic adjective
Word History and Origins
Word History and Origins
Origin of graphite1
Example Sentences
In a conventional lithium-ion battery, one of the two electrodes, the anode, is made mostly from graphite.
At normal pressures on Earth’s surface, carbon’s most stable state is graphite.
At everyday pressures on Earth’s surface, carbon’s most stable state is graphite.
If you stack normal, flat graphene layers, they clump together and you end up with graphite again.
The lithium ions tuck between the atom-thin layers of the graphite.
The reactor itself, a massive gridlike metal and graphite structure, 36 feet high.
But we had the graphite [reactor core] exposed to the air for four days—land for 30 kilometers around was contaminated.
If red is desired, use rouge; if black is preferred, use lampblack or powdered graphite.
The most common solid employed as a lubricant is graphite, sometimes termed “plumbago” or “black lead.”
For lathe centers, one part of graphite and four parts of tallow thoroughly mixed and applied will be very serviceable.
It is found that current will pass through such a bulb only from the graphite to the mercury but not in the reverse direction.
When I left, he had a gang pulling out graphite blocks with RC-tongs.
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