What Is the Identity of These Mysterious Shiny Black Beads?

[runmitch16]

hey this is my first post and i have some sort of compound sitting in front of me that my teacher has asked me to figure out and i just need some help it looks like small black beads and are pretty shiny please answer back

 

[Doodan]

if it's black then it's carbon
can you provide any more specifics?

 

[runmitch16]

well i just was messing around with it and its very malleable

 

[‡brandon]

try to see if you can scrape some peices off of it with a knife. If its like dust then its probly carbon.

 

[runmitch16]

haha wow i never even thought of that lol yea they are just like little carbon beads thanks a lot guys it writes like a pencil

 

[chemisttree]

What about lead shot from a shotgun shell?

 

[chemisttree]

It could also be bismuth shot from an eco-friendly shotshell.

The magnetic properties of bismuth are very different that for lead or graphite.

Of course it could be a shot sample of a variety of metals. See here:

http://www.sigmaaldrich.com/Area_of...noelectronics/Electronic_Grade_Materials.html