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Q: Are slate chalk boards better than painted ones?
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Continue Learning about Natural Sciences

Why is chalk boards made of slate?

Chalkboards were made of slate in the olden days because slate could be split into flat, thin pieces, and because you could use chalk on it. The chalk was easy to remove, as well. So slate was the perfect choice for chalk boards. But it could not be made into large sheets of slate. For a long, long time, chalkboards have been made with black paint, real slate, and so on. Modern chalkboards are made of a mixture of porcelain enamel with silica granules. Larger silica particles are called, "Sand". But the small silica granules in the porcelain enamel give the finished chalkboard just enough roughness that the chalk will rub off on it. Porcelain enamel would not accept chalk lines by itself. (Try using chalk on a glass or china dinner plate) The enamel-silica mixture is applied to usually 22-guage steel for durability, a pressboard backing is added, the coated steel/backing gets a frame around it, and there you have a finished chalkboard.


What sedimentary rock is used for making writing chalk?

Chalk (limestone) was traditionally used to make the marking devices used on chalkboards, but not the boards themselves. These were made from slate, a metamorphic rock.


What type of limestone is used in classrooms?

The sedimentary rock, chalk, a form of limestone, was used in the past as a writing instrument on slate blackboards, but most 'chalk' today is actually gypsum.


Can you write with stones?

You can write with a soft stone on a harder stone; writing with chalk on slate is a familiar example.You can also write with a hard stone on a softer stone, using the harder stone as an engraving tool. There are a lot of examples of this on paleolithic artifacts.


What is the difference between tailor's chalk and blackboard chalk?

Tailor's Chalk is made from magnesium silicate or Mg3Si4O10(OH)2. Blackboard/ Chalkboard Chalk is made from calcium sulfate or CaSO4. Both were previously made from chalk a form of limestone that is a soft, white, porous sedimentary rock composed of calcium carbonate or CaCO3. Other Names for Tailor's Chalk: Sewing Chalk, Magnesium Silicate, Soapstone, Talc, Slate Other Names for Chalkboard/Blackboard Chalk: Calcium Sulfate, Gypsum, Gypsum Plaster, Plaster of Paris, Drierite, Alabaster, Anhydrite, Desert Rose * Tailor's Chalk is used to temporarily mark clothing for alterations. * Chalkboard/Blackboard Chalk is used for writing and/or drawing on a chalkboard, blackboard, slate, or enamel board. * Tailor's Chalk and Blackboard/Chalkboard Chalk are interchangeable though the method of cleanup varies if the before mentioned chalk is used for it's intended purpose or another usage. * Chalkboard/Blackboard Chalk made from calcium sulfate is dust free. * Chalk Sticks are made from calcium sulfate (calcium & sulphur molecules chemically bound to water) aka gypsum in its dihydrate form (chemical compound containing 2 molecules of water around each CaSO4 group aka calcium sulfate hemihydrate * Chalk Sticks are made through calcination. Calcination is a treatment process of removing water from a substance or compound in this case calcium sulfate by heating the calcium sulfate to a high temperature that is also below melting or fusing point causing a loss of 50% to 75% of the calcium sulfate's original moisture producing a powder. When water is then added to the powder it rehydrates and quickly hardens. * Calcium Sulfate predominately comes from Gypsum or Anhydrite though it also occurs as a byproduct of several different chemical processes * Gypsum or Anhydrite occurs in many locations worldwide as evaporites (a natural salt or mineral sediment deposit left after the evaporation of a body of water) * Pastels are made from calcium sulfate mixed with clay, oils, & pigment * Soapstone is a metamorphic rock made mostly of Talc aka Magnesium Silicate * Soapstone aka slate is what blackboards were first made from though most modern chalkboards are made with steel treated with an enamel * Chalkboards can be made any color; Blackboards refer to the original blackboards made from soapstone aka slate * Modern chalkboards are made with tiling grout; one of the main ingredients in tiling grout is Magnesium Silicate same as original Blackboards and Tailor's Chalk * In early American schools children used a slate aka soapstone pencil to write on personal slate aka soapstone boards. These slate aka soapstone pencils were a cylinder of the rock inside cedar * Slate pencils were replaced by soft chalk aka calcium carbonate (CaCO3) later replaced by calcium sulfate aka gypsum (CaSO4·2H2O)

Related questions

When did we start to use chalk?

Students were using chalk at school in the early 1800s. Teachers had large chalkboards and students had slate boards to do their lessons on.


How did the children write their diary in the days of Victorian?

At school it was normal to write with a slate penicil on a piece of slate (the slate pencil could be make of clay, soft slate, soapstone or chalk). The main advantage of slate was that it the marks could be erased and the slate could be reused.


A hard tablet used for writing with chalk?

slate


Why is chalk boards made of slate?

Chalkboards were made of slate in the olden days because slate could be split into flat, thin pieces, and because you could use chalk on it. The chalk was easy to remove, as well. So slate was the perfect choice for chalk boards. But it could not be made into large sheets of slate. For a long, long time, chalkboards have been made with black paint, real slate, and so on. Modern chalkboards are made of a mixture of porcelain enamel with silica granules. Larger silica particles are called, "Sand". But the small silica granules in the porcelain enamel give the finished chalkboard just enough roughness that the chalk will rub off on it. Porcelain enamel would not accept chalk lines by itself. (Try using chalk on a glass or china dinner plate) The enamel-silica mixture is applied to usually 22-guage steel for durability, a pressboard backing is added, the coated steel/backing gets a frame around it, and there you have a finished chalkboard.


Why is slate used as chalk?

it not a slate is a hand hold chalkboard


Why do board called as blackboard even its color is green?

Originally the boards were made of slate which is a black stone. They were eventually replaced by wooden boards painted green but the name still stuck.


What is a Victorian slate board used for?

Victorian slate boards were mostly used by children in schools. Children used slate boards to learn how to write and spell.


What is a slate pencil used for?

Writing on Slate Boards. If you don't know what a Slate Board is, then I suggest you Google it.


What did colonial children write on?

slate boards


Does chalk mean slate?

No. Chalk is a soft carbonate sedimentary rock whereas slate is a fissile rock with a pronounced cleavage formed by the metamorphism of fine grained sedimentary rocks containing clay minerals. Chalk (the soft white mineral used in marking on a slate or blackboard) is actually now commonly made from gypsum but in the past was actully composed of calcitic chalk.


Why can you use chalk to write on the blackboard but not granite?

Chalk is softer than the slate (real or artificial) used on blackboards, so it will flake off as you write. Granite is harder than slate and will not flake, but rather cut into or mark the slate permanently.


Why is slate used as chalkboards?

Slate's slightly coarse texture allows bits of chalk to 'stick' to board. Its foliation (process of splitting into thin sheets) allows it to be broken or cut easily into pieces ranging from a small student chalkboard - or as big as a giant chalkboard for the teacher to write on. Slate is also very durable, although now slate chalkboards are being overtaken by 'white boards' and SmartBoards.