Cloudy graphite (4B) Pencil

The entirely carbon-composed mineral is something that we all use in our daily lives. 

Where you may ask?

The answer: In our pencils!

 

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You may have already noticed from the title that I inserted 4B in parenthesis because there are different kinds of graphite used in pencils that result in them being varied to different usages. 

The 4B here is not the type of graphite used in a test-taking situation at school. Rather, it is used more in a drawing situation.

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The reason why graphite here is not really used in a school or note taking situation is because it is very brittle and gives off a much darker color than an ordinary pencil we normally use. Here in the picture a 4B graphite is shown when it is broken (when used) and it shows that unlike an ordinary graphite pencil, this one gives off a much more scattered color sense and is much darker than others.  

A chart is shown online where it displays the different graphite used, scaling from the lightest (being 9H) to the darkest (being 9xxB) also showing that while the 4B here may seem to be a very dark color, there are much more darker and brittle ones above it. 

Now you may be wondering why kind of graphite we use on a normal basis, we use a type called HB. The letter "H" indicates hardness of the pencil while "B" designates the blackness of a graphite. 

In the graphite we were mentioning until now, 4B, has only one difference which is the number. The number indicates that as it grows, it will become much softer than the previous one. For example, 4B would be much softer than 2B meaning it would break faster.