ELI5: Explain Like I'm 5

Acheson process

Hey there kiddo! Do you know how we make something called "graphite"? It's a type of special material that's used in lots of things like pencils and batteries! Well, there's a process called the Acheson process that helps make this graphite stuff. It's named after a guy named Edward Acheson who invented it a long time ago.

The Acheson process begins with something called "carbon" - this is a fancy word for stuff that's made of molecules called "pure carbon". We take this carbon and mix it with some other stuff like sand and clay to make a thick, gooey mixture called "carbon paste". The paste looks a bit like muddy cake batter!

Now comes the fun part - we put this carbon paste into a special machine called an "electric furnace". This furnace is really hot and it makes electricity flow through the paste. As the electricity flows, it makes the carbon molecules rearrange themselves into long, thin crystals. It's like making a cake recipe - the electricity acts like an oven and the carbon paste is the batter!

After a while, the crystals start to stick together and form big, solid chunks of graphite. We take these chunks out of the furnace and break them up into smaller pieces. Ta-da! Now we have graphite that we can use in all sorts of things.

So, in summary, the Acheson process is a way of using an electric furnace to turn carbon paste into graphite, a special material used in pencils and batteries. It's named after a guy named Edward Acheson who came up with the process a long time ago.