Copying pencil Copying pencil A copying pencil, also indelible pencil or chemical pencil, is pencil whose lead contains a dye. The lead is fabricated by adding a dry water-soluble permanent dye to powdered graphite—used in standard graphite pencils—before binding the mixture with clay. Copying pencils were introduced in the 1870s and were originally marketed for copying documents, especially for making permanent copies of a permanent original. This was achieved by creating a hand-written document using a copying pencil, laying a moist tissue paper over the document and pressing down with a mechanical press. The water-soluble dye in the writing would be transferred
Lead tetrachloride Lead tetrachloride Lead tetrachloride, also known as lead(IV) chloride, has the molecular formula PbCl. It is a yellow, oily liquid which is stable below 0 °C, and decomposes at 50 °C. It has a tetrahedral configuration, with lead as the central atom. The Pb–Cl covalent bonds have been measured to be 247 pm and the bond energy is 243 kJ⋅mol. Lead tetrachloride can be made by reacting lead(II) chloride PbCl, and hydrochloric acid HCl, in the presence of chlorine gas (Cl), leading to the formation of chloroplumbic acid HPbCl. It is then converted to the ammonium salt (NH)PbCl by adding