If you've ever stared at your No. 2 pencil and wondered "why are pencils yellow?" you can take solace in the fact that around 210 people a month are typing that very question into an online search ...

During the 1800s, the best graphite came from China and American pencil makers began painting them yellow because, in China, ...

That’s why so many pencils are still yellow today. Why there is a hole in many pen lids. Very young children have a bad tendency to put things in their mouths when they shouldn’t – like pens.