If you want to see a rigid pencil turn to rubber, just ask an elementary-school student. In a favorite playground trick, an amateur magician picks up a pencil near the tip and lightly jiggles the ...

Often tucked behind an ear or rolling off desks unnoticed, the pencil is one of those rare objects that’s both ordinary and ...

“The whole idea behind Teacher’s Desk, is that if you have a pencil, you have a chance,” John Mica, Founder of the Teacher’s Desk, said. “The need is just always there.

As you spin the pencil faster and/or make the cone you trace with the pencil wider, the rubber band should start to move up the pencil and eventually fly off the tip!

Those ubiquitous pink erasers, in particular—the pencil-toppers and Pink Pearls of the world—make use of pulverized pumice to add abrasiveness. And pumice is, of course, volcanic ash. 8.