How erasers work?

We know pencils work thanks to graphite molecules breaking off and catching onto the fibers of paper. Today, we’re going to figure out how erasers work to remove those bits of graphite when you make a mistake.?

What makes up an Eraser?

Erasers are most commonly made of either rubber or vinyl. These main materials are the substances that give erasers their stickiness, the quality that allows them to pick up graphite from paper.

The sticky base is counteracted with a softener – vegetable oil, factis – and then vulcanized with sulfur. The factis has an uncanny penchant for picking up graphite. To give the eraser color, chemists add various dyes.?

How Erasers Work?

Most of us assume that the eraser is ‘rubbing out’ the marks on our paper when we need to correct a mistake. It seems like the eraser might be eliminating the graphite on the page.

The truth is, the way erasers actually work is a bit counterintuitive. As we’ve explained, you make pencil marks when flakes of graphite ‘catch’ onto and in-between the paper fibers, thanks to a phenomenon called the London Force.

When you rub an eraser on a pencil-marked piece of paper, you produce heat through friction. When the rubber molecules get hot, they become sticky. The graphite molecules start mingling once again – this time with the sticky eraser molecules. Rubber molecules ‘pick up’ the graphite molecules, and the molecular mixtures break off from the eraser in tiny particles. That’s why erasers produce “dust”!