"The H is for hardness -- the more "Hs," the harder the lead. B is for "black."  The more "Bs," the softer the lead -- and therefore the blacker the line. Hardness is, of course, a function of the percentage of clay (more clay = harder).  And one of the sources of the clay is Georgia kaolin!"

Finding an answer to the original question about pencil lead ("If "H" means "hard," what does "B" mean?") is a great example of vertical or left-brain thinking. From the initial question, we move straight to information that provides an answer. 

 
 

Notice, however, that in answering the initial question, more information surfaces: e.g., "hardness is...a function of the percentage of clay" and "one of the sources of clay is Georgia kaolin."   These new questions lead to lateral or right-brain thinking. Answering a question with vertical thinking can result in a correct answer; allowing that answer to lead to more questions and more answers can lead to an understanding of the whole concept. 

Lateral thinking produces additional questions  (for example, "What is hardness?") and answers ("a function of the percentage of clay"). Did you ever wonder how old the pencil is or who invented it? How is it made? What's a lead pencil? Chasing down the answers to all these new questions not only can result in a genuine understanding of the concept of pencils but can also lead to many new areas of related information. 

Reading further, we find that the harder the lead, the more clay it has in it. And what's this about clay? We thought pencils had lead in them. Our article tells us that pencils actually have graphite and clay in them, not lead! You'll find more on this topic, including the scoop on real lead pencils, at this same site. You can also find out why less clay in a pencil produces a blacker line. 

How are pencils made? Read on. A new word is mentioned in the article: slat.  Read to find out what this means. 

By typing "pencil slats" into a Google search box, you'll be led to the California Cedar Products Company, a major producer of slats. A history of this company tells us that the owners and founders, the Berolzheimer family, own the Eagle Pencil Company (now the Berol Corporation). They also own a part of our state, a private island off the coast of southeast Georgia called Little St. Simons Island. Follow a link to Little St. Simons to learn more about a lovely private resort and one of Georgia's Golden Isles. If you like this island, you might be interested in learning more about the surrounding islands, Ossabaw, St. Catherine's, Blackbeard, Sapelo, Cumberland, Jekyll, Tybee, Wassaw, St. Simons.