Pencil "lead" is actually made of graphite, which is a soft crystal lattice made of nothing but carbon atoms. When pencils deposit that graphite on paper, the lattice is laid down in thin sheets.

Laptops may have made hand-writing notes a thing of the past, but the pencil — or at least pencil lead — is making a comeback, as UA researchers are developing ways to use pencil lead as a ...

Anyone who has ever taken an SAT has had the sacredness of the No. 2 pencil drilled into them. But what makes a No. 2 pencil what it is? What separates it from a No. 1 or No. 4? And what makes a ...