Using a Broken Pencil on This Quiz is Pointless

Answer: Refraction

Moving the pencil slowly across the middle of the glass from a centered position to an off-center position reveals the phenomenon of refraction. What we observe is the position of the pencil under the water shifting compared to the pencil's position above water, thus the pencil appearing "broken". Also, the pencil appears fatter when looked at through the water as opposed to above it. Moving the pencil further toward the edge of the glass, will at a certain point make the portion of the pencil underwater disappear. This is all due to light refraction:
To see the pencil in the water, light travels from the pencil, through the water, then into the air, and finally to the eye. In turn, the eye sees along the line of the path that light is traveling as it passes through the air to the eye.
But since light bends (refracts) as it passes from water to air, the eye cannot sight directly at the pencil, because as light passes from water into air, it bends away from the normal path. To see the pencil's image, the eye sees along the newly refracted light ray. The portion of the pencil submerged in the water is shifted to the left in relation to the pencil's image above the water, thus the pencil appears to be broken.

Answer: "making a point"

This oft-repeated myth says that in 19th-century England a form of silent protest involved breaking a pencil to indicate a disagreement without actually speaking up and stating it. It was called "making a quiet point." The rumor likely stems from Victorian-era etiquette, where it might have been considered rude to overtly utter disagreement, which led to people adopting overt nonverbal cues such as clearing one's throat, folding one's arms, or leaning back in one's chair. Though the myth persists among many trivia web sites, it is most likely fictitious, as pencils were actually considered quite valuable back then, so they would not likely be so casually broken.

Answer: Breaking them with his head

On December 17, 2022, in Tarzana, California, Ronald Sarchian was the first person to set the record for snapping pencils by hand-110 of them in 60 seconds. David Rush would tie that on December 1, 2023 in Boise, Idaho. Rush did however become the first officially recognized Guinness World Record holder for the specific category of snapping pencils by hand in 30 seconds: 63.

But it is Muhammad Rashid of Pakistan who achieved the more unique pencil-breaking record, with 117 of them broken in 60 seconds with his head on May 19, 2024, in Karachi, Sind, Pakistan. He was first officially recognized record holder in that category by the Guinness Book of Records.

Answer: Carving miniature sculptures into the graphite tips

Now living in Connecticut, Dalton Ghetti carves microscopic sculptures from pencil tips; he has even created a working chain made from a single broken pencil. You have to see the photographs to believe it. He does them all by hand including a boot, a church, a comb, a hand saw and a set of 26 pencils, each one a different letter of the alphabet, taking two and a half years to complete.

They take that long because he only works on them for an hour and a half each day to avoid eye fatigue, and he does NOT use a magnifying glass! His tools of trade include a razor blade, sewing needle, sculpting knife, and of course patience.

Answer: Zine culture and independent media

Founder and co-publisher Hal Niedzviecki's "Broken Pencil" gave voice to over four-hundred writers, artists and creators, publishing thousands of reviews of small press books, zines, comics, interviews, and excerpts. The publication was a great supporter of independent arts and music as well as zines - non-official publications produced by independent fans and enthusiasts of specific cultural phenomenon.

Answer: John Wick

In "John Wick: Chapter 2" (2017), Keanu Reeves kills an assassin using a broken pencil. The iconic fight scene had fans adopt the same phrase - "The "Pencil Trick" that they used for The Joker's violent scene in "The Dark Knight". In "John Wick: Chapter 2", John Wick (Keanu Reeves) is attacked by two assassins in a subway station. He grabs the only object nearby, a broken pencil from a table, and stabs one assassin in the ear with it, driving it deeper with a head slam, and then uses the same pencil to stab the other assassin in the throat.

Answer: Hexagonal

Pencils are designed with hexagonal barrels to prevent rolling off the table-that's why the vast majority of them have that 6-sided shape, although round pencils are preferred by artists and sketchers because they are easier to rotate in the hand for shading. However, that shape creates an uneven pressure distribution, and so the pencils splinter almost randomly when they break.

Answer: Oklahoma City Bombing

On April 19, 1995, a terrorist's truck bomb detonated, destroyed the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building, in Oklahoma City, and damaged structures over a mile away. The other disasters mentioned occurred well after that bombing. That pencil was discovered embedded in the wall a half mile away from ground zero, and it is now displayed at the Oklahoma City National Memorial & Museum as part of the permanent collection, along with artifacts such as broken eyeglasses, and a survivor's wristwatch stopped at the time of the explosion, 9:02 AM.

Answer: Mother Teresa

The book was published in India in 1996 a year before Mother Teresa's death in 1997, the year the book was first published in the U.S. Compiled by editors Jaya Chalika and Edward La Joly, it is a collection of words of wisdom she spoke and wrote throughout her life as a spiritual leader inspiring the world.

It's similar to one of those calendar books that have a quote of the day or joke of the day for each day of the year. But instead, here each day offers a heartening mini sermon about charity, compassion and transformation. For what it's worth, the "broken pencil" quote was the inspirational entry for August 10th.

Answer: Fisher Pen Company

It's a popular Internet myth that asserts the humorously humbling story that NASA spent millions of taxpayer dollars trying to develop a pen that astronauts could write with in zero gravity while the Russians simply used...a pencil. It's bogus. Originally, both country's spacemen used pencils. But pencils had serious drawbacks. For one thing graphite is conductive and could short-circuit equipment, on top of which, pencils being wooden and all, are flammable. The Apollo 1 fire made pencils a scary device. Also, airborne particles from pencils if they broke, as well as graphite flakes, could clog filters and even be inhaled by astronauts. Then in 1965, the Fisher Pen Company patented a pen that could write upside-down, write in extreme cold (-50 degrees F) and write in extremely hot conditions (up to 400 degrees F). They could even write underwater. They offered the pen to NASA, and after extensive testing, NASA started using the pen on spaceflights in 1967.

The Musgrave, General, and Blackwing companies make pencils, but do not make pens.