How Far Can a Pencil Really Draw? The Truth About 35 Miles

For decades, trivia enthusiasts have confidently declared that a typical pencil contains enough graphite to draw a line 35 miles long. It's one of those "facts" that gets repeated so often it becomes accepted wisdom. There's just one problem: it's wildly inaccurate.

The actual distance? About 3.8 miles for a standard No. 2 pencil—less than 11% of the legendary claim.

Putting Pencils to the Test

The myth persisted for so long because, frankly, who has the time or patience to test it? Researchers finally tackled this question using an ingenious setup: long sheets of paper and a working treadmill. By fixing a pencil in place and running the treadmill beneath it, they could measure exactly how far modern pencils could draw.

The results were eye-opening. A standard yellow No. 2 pencil—the kind you used for standardized tests—drew a continuous line for 3.8 miles before the graphite core was exhausted. The line did get progressively lighter, but it remained visible throughout. An expensive premium pencil produced a darker line but only lasted 1.7 miles. Mechanical pencils fared even worse at 1.48 miles, limited by the brittleness of their thin graphite cores.

The Math Doesn't Add Up

Even before the treadmill test, mathematicians were skeptical. If a pencil can write approximately 45,000 words (another common claim), and the average word uses about 40mm of line, that equals roughly 1.1 miles of writing. Push it to 100,000 words? You'd still only get about 2 miles.

One determined group in Pennsylvania tested the word count by having 26 people copy Harper Lee's novel using a single pencil. They managed 100,388 words and still had a 1.25-inch stub remaining—impressive, but nowhere near supporting a 35-mile claim.

Why the Exaggeration Stuck

The 35-mile figure likely originated from theoretical calculations that didn't account for real-world factors:

• Pressure applied while writing or drawing
• Line width and darkness preferences
• Graphite lost during sharpening (often 20-30% of the pencil)
• Brittleness and breakage of the graphite core
• The gradual lightening of the line as graphite depletes

It's also possible someone made a mathematical error that went viral before fact-checking became standard practice. The number is memorable and impressive—qualities that help misinformation spread.

The bottom line? While 3.8 miles might not sound as impressive as 35, it's still remarkable that a small cylinder of graphite can create nearly four miles of visible marks. That's enough to draw a line from midtown Manhattan to the Bronx, or write the equivalent of a short novel.

Sometimes the truth is less spectacular than the myth, but it's a good reminder: even widely accepted "facts" deserve scrutiny.