Who Invented the Pencil?: teacher key

How Pencils Are Made, grade 9 edition, written for 9th grade. Dates disagree, a Lake District legend, smugglers, and why one clay-and-graphite idea still shapes every core.

Read the book. Print this page for the key.

Questions and answers

1. What did Conté's method let a maker choose?
   • How hard or soft the pencil is (answer)
   • The color of the wood
   • The length of the pencil
2. What does the B in HB stand for?
   • Black (answer)
   • Brown
   • Brittle
3. Where was the first commercial graphite mine?
   • Sri Lanka
   • The Lake District of England (answer)
   • Concord, Massachusetts
4. What did local shepherds first use graphite for?
   • Marking their sheep (answer)
   • Writing letters
   • Building walls
5. What does stable mean for incense-cedar here?
   • It stands up to heat and moisture changes (answer)
   • It is sold in stables
   • It is very soft

Words

• graphite: soft carbon form
• plumbago: old name
• smuggling: secret trading
• stable: not changing