Why is graphite used as a dry lubricant in machinery?

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In graphite, each carbon atom experiences hybridization.

Graphite is highly soft and slippery because of its layered structure, which cleaves between the layers.

Graphite is not an electrical conductor.

There are two sigma bonds and two pi bonds in graphite.

answer is B.

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Detailed Solution

Concept- Graphite is one of the allotropes of carbon. Other allotropes of carbon are diamond and fullerene.
Now, graphite is one of the allotropes of carbon which is used as a lubricant because it can easily be drawn in the form of sheets, the forces between these sheets are very weak, that is they are held with one another by very weak intermolecular forces mostly by Van der Waals forces.
Due to these weak forces among sheets they have a tendency to slip over one another which allows them to slip over each other. Thus, graphite is used as a lubricant.
Thus, the correct reason is-
Graphite is highly soft and slippery because it has a layered structure and cleaves easily between the layers.
Hence, the correct option is (2).

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