Graphite is soft, dark gray, greasy, and can contaminate paper. The hardness is 1-2, and can increase to 3-5 with the increase of impurities in the vertical direction. The specific gravity is 1.9 to 2.3. The specific surface area is concentrated in the range of 1-20m2/g. Under the condition of isolating oxygen, its melting point is above 3000 ℃, making it one of the most temperature resistant minerals. It can conduct electricity and heat.

There is no pure graphite in nature, which often contains impurities such as sio2, al_2o_3, feo, cao, p2o5, and cuo. These impurities often occur in the form of minerals such as quartz, pyrite, and carbonate. In addition, there are gas components such as water, asphalt, CO2, H2, CH4, and N2. Therefore, for the analysis of graphite, in addition to the determination of fixed carbon content, it is also necessary to simultaneously determine the content of volatile matter and ash.

"Graphite, along with diamond, carbon 60, carbon nanotubes, graphene, and other elements, are simple substances of carbon, and they are allotropes of each other.".