1.45 Explain how the uses of diamond and graphite depend on their structures, limited to graphite as a lubricant and diamond in cutting.

• Diamond is often used at the tips of drill bits or certain blades because it is very hard. This is because it has many strong covalent bonds that are not at all easy to break.
• Graphite is used as a lubricant because its layers are held together by weak binding forces, which means they slide over each other. Even when you have graphite in your pencil, when you write, the layers slide onto the paper :)