Pencil "plumbago" (Latin for "lead ore"). Because the pencil core is still referred to as "lead", or a "lead", many people have the misconception that the graphite in the pencil is lead, and the black core of pencils is still referred to as "lead", even though it never contained the element lead. The words for pencil in German ("bleistift"), Irish ("peann luaidhe"), Arabic (قلم رصاص "qalam raṣāṣ"), and some other languages literally mean "lead pen". The value of graphite would soon be realised to be enormous, mainly because it could be used to line the moulds for cannonballs; the mines were
Lead smelting methods are usually used to remove the remaining non-lead components of the mixture, for example the Betterton-Kroll process and the Betts electrolytic process. The non-lead metals are usually sold to other metal processing plants. The refined lead may be made into alloys or directly cast. People who operate or work in such plants are also referred to as smelters. Galena, the most common mineral of lead, is primarily lead sulfide (PbS). The sulfide is oxidized to a sulfite (PbSO) which thermally decomposes into lead oxide and sulfur dioxide gas. (PbO and SO) The sulfur dioxide (like the carbon dioxide in