Why a Pencil Writes: teacher key

How Pencils Are Made, grade 6 edition, written for 6th grade. Graphite's slippery sheets, a French inventor and the case of the missing English graphite.

Read the book. Print this page for the key.

Questions and answers

1. Why could Conté not use English graphite in the 1790s?
   • France was cut off from it (answer)
   • It was too soft
   • It cost nothing
2. What happens to graphite's sheets when you write?
   • They melt
   • They slide apart (answer)
   • They turn to diamond
3. What did pencil usually mean in the 1700s?
   • A small paintbrush (answer)
   • A kind of pen
   • A metal rod
4. What does more clay do to a pencil core?
   • Makes it harder (answer)
   • Makes it softer
   • Makes it yellow
5. What does the word patent mean in this book?
   • A legal claim to an invention (answer)
   • A kind of clay
   • A wooden board

Words

• graphite: soft carbon form
• patent: inventor's license
• kiln: baking oven
• die: shaping hole