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Traces the history of the wood-case pencil. Implication of the Educational Testing Service's announcement that it will replace pencil and paper with computers; Comments on the discovery that pencil lead was actually a form of carbon; Involvement of writer Henry David Thoreau's family in the pencil business; Exhaustion of sources of graphite and red cedar, which are the raw materials for pencil.

Discusses the history of the pencil. First picture of the pencil in a book on collecting fossils; Identification of Friedrich Staedtler as a pencil-maker in 1662; Shape of the first pencil lead; Pulverization, and reconstitution of fragments of graphite; Patenting of mechanical pencils.

The article presents miscellaneous facts about pencils used for writing. Since pencils use a graphite rather than a lead writing medium, they cannot cause lead poisoning. The word "graphite" derives from the Greek work meaning to write. "Pencil" is from the Latin meaning "little tail." American author Henry David Thoreau used pencils to write "Walden," and his father owned a pencil-making business near Boston, Massachusetts.

The article presents information on the evolution of pencils which is made of graphite. The substance, called graphene, is a film of carbon atoms arranged like a honeycomb. While graphite crystals are made of stacks of many such hexagonal layers, graphene's single layer was believed to be too unstable to exist on its own. The layers were thought to crumple into sooty lumps. Graphene is the basic structural unit behind many other forms of carbon, including graphite, buck/balls and carbon nanotubes.

The article reports on the invention and development of the pencil. The first pencil may have been the ancient Roman stylus. Other writing tools that followed were made of lead. The pencil being used in modern times is made of graphite. Graphite was discovered in 1564 in England. The refining of graphite was developed by Frenchman Nicolas-Jacques Conte. Pencils are classified by hardness, blackness and fineness of point.

In this article the author discusses how she sketched Fireworks Galaxy (NGC 6946) and NGC 7008 and offers suggestions regarding the same. The suggestions include using white media in lieu of graphite as that can create a positive image directly at the eyepiece, drawing the basic sketch with colored pencils, a gel pen, and a pastel or charcoal pencil, and drawing brightest stars first with a gel pen.

Presents information on the difference between a 2B and a 2H graphite pencil. Indication of the number and letter combination; Other methods of grading system used by some manufacturers; Information on graphite.