Chem Report

The Chemistry of pencil eraser

Table of Contents

1. Introduction 3

2. Main content 4

History of Pencil erasers 4

Ingredients of pencil erasers 4

Manufacture of pencil eraser 4

Manufacture of natural rubber 4

Manufacture of synthetic rubber 5

Manufacture of eraser 6

How does pencil eraser work? 7

Other variations 7

Art gum eraser 7

Kneaded eraser 8

Ink eraser 8

Metal ink eraser 8

Chemical ink eraser 9

other features of pencil eraser 9

Melts plastic 9

Aroma pencil erasers may cause health problems 9

3. Conclusion 10

4. References 11

1.

Introduction

Pencil eraser, also called rubber, is a stationary used to remove mark and writings made by pencils. Due to its convenience in removing pencil marks and its cheap price (normally cost less than or around HKD$10 nowadays), it becomes a very popular and necessary stationary to most people and we can easily find it in stationary stores, supermarkets, etc.

Pencil erasers comes in different forms, shapes, colors and textures. Different erasers are suitable for removing different kinds of marks. For example, kneaded eraser, which can be reshaped easily by user, are popular among artists as it can be pulled or compressed to clean large or very tiny marks; while rubber erasers are suitable for most of us, they are cheaper, and have high erasability. To simplify, I will focus on rubber eraser in this report.

Fig. 1.1 Different types of erasers Fig. 1.2 Rubber erasers in different colors

Pencil eraser is an item that I use nearly every day, however, I never know how it is made or even how it works. Therefore, I am looking forward to knowing more about erasers and record the results onto this report.

2. Main content

History of Pencil erasers

Before the invention of pencil erasers, people rolled up pieces of white bread to rub off pencil marks. In 1770, an English engineer Edward Nairne accidentally picked up a piece of rubber instead...