science

IKEA pencil

IKEA pencil is a science topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand IKEA pencil rather than just read about it. In short: IKEA pencils are small pencils provided for free in IKEA stores worldwide. They are found in small boxes attached to poles, together with maps, measuring tapes and shopping forms.

Key takeaways

IKEA pencil belongs to science; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect IKEA pencil to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of IKEA pencil from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

IKEA pencils are small pencils provided for free in IKEA stores worldwide. They are found in small boxes attached to poles, together with maps, measuring tapes and shopping forms. The IKEA pencil has been known for the wide variety of designs. Through the years the color changed from blue, to yellow to the natural color of wood. Despite the different colors, its dimensions have always been 7×87mm. Their common in-store application is for notetaking, with customers making note of selected items from product tags onto their notepads and visiting the self-service furniture warehouse to collect their showroom products in flat pack form, using their notes to locate their products.

Overview IKEA orders 5.2 million pencils yearly for its Canadian stores alone, and the company does not disapprove of customers that put them to other uses such as craft projects or works of art. The Dutch artist Judith Delleman constructed a chair out of hundreds of them. When an IKEA store first opened in South Korea, two years' worth of free pencils were consumed in the span of two months. Being disposable, the pencils are also used by surgeons to mark osteotomy cuts in craniofacial and maxillofacial surgery. Another application of pencils is to draw electronic circuits, and IKEA pencils have been used in the fabrication of free chlorine sensors for drinking water. In 2015, IKEA released an advertisement on their various social media profiles about their free pencils, with the label "Absolutely familiar. Entirely free", in an attempt to mock the new Apple Pencil.

Illustrations

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with IKEA pencil

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what IKEA pencil claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In science, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to IKEA pencil before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about IKEA pencil ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of IKEA pencil

In research: IKEA pencil appears in science research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses IKEA pencil in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: IKEA pencil is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics IKEA products, Pencils, Surgical instruments, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for IKEA pencil outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

Ask Teacher Smith questions about this articleOpens your AI tutor with a question about “IKEA pencil” →

Affiliate

Preply — study more efficiently by working with a personal tutor. 50% off.

How to study IKEA pencil in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what IKEA pencil means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain IKEA pencil out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is IKEA pencil in simple terms?

IKEA pencils are small pencils provided for free in IKEA stores worldwide. They are found in small boxes attached to poles, together with maps, measuring tapes and shopping forms.

Why does IKEA pencil matter?

Because it connects several science ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study IKEA pencil?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on IKEA pencil.