Answer:

It depends on the temperature. At higher temperature it’s white and at lower temperature it’s black. Graphite is a black compound made of carbon. It has been mined from Earth for centuries and used in pencil lead, crayons, lampblack (similar to charcoal), and explosives.

Graphite will appear either as a white, greyish solid or as a gray-to-black solid, depending on its temperature. It has a metallic appearance which often makes it hard to distinguish from other metal objects that have been handled for a long time without being polished clean of oxidation layers. At room temperature, graphite appears dull gray with an even surface luster called “graphitic”.

The word “graphite”, coined in 1789 by Abraham Gottlob Werner, comes from the Greek γράφειν (“graphein”) meaning “to draw/write”. The mineral graphite is one of the most plentiful elements found on Earth. It can be found naturally on some beach sand, rocks, within certain metamorphic rocks such as marbles, and in veins of graphite ore (typically in association with limestone). Graphite is one of the naturally occurring varieties of coal.

Graphite is similar to charcoal but it can be differentiated by their crystalline structures. While both graphite and charcoal are composed of carbon, graphite consists of layers of graphene (forming stacked sheets) that are connected by weak van der Waals forces whereas each particle of charcoal is an individual unit consisting solely of graphitic carbon.