Many have seen the movie Three Idiots. At the
very beginning of the movie, actor Boman Irani, who plays a teacher named
Virus, shows a pen to all the students. Which was an astronaut pen. Ballpoint
pens cannot be used in space, so astronaut pens are used there. Then actor
Aamir Khan asked the virus, then why can't pencil be used?
First, why can't a pen be used in space? For
those who understand gravity, the answer is not too complicated. When we keep
the lip of the pen down and the back of the pen up, the upper inks tend to push
down or fall due to gravity. When writing with a pen, when the ball on the lip
rotates, the ink pressed on the ball repeatedly sticks. As a result, the ink
sticks to the page of the ledger and the writing is visible. Similarly, if we
keep a pen upside down (back side up and lip down), then after some time, the
ink of the pen will come out from the backside. Many of us have done this
carelessly. Many people's clothes have been ruined by that ink.
However, a solution to this problem has been
made at present. After the pen is filled with ink, the hole at the back is
closed with an adhesive substance so that even if the pen is put upside down in
a pocket, the ink cannot come out. You see, the main mechanism here is the ink
being pushed down by gravity. If the ink was not pressed down, the ink would
not stick and writing would not be possible.
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| Paul Fischer's Space Pen |
Now, since there is no gravity in space, the
ink will not stick in a certain direction. So there is no need for continuous
ink. And so it is not possible to write there. So we can't use a pen in
space. Since a pen cannot be used, then we can use a pencil. Because the
pencil does not need gravity. As though in the movie, Aamir Khan asked the
question about the virus. Even a pencil cannot be used in space. Although in
the early days of space travel, Russia and America used pencils in space. But
unfortunately, pencil nibs are made of graphite. Which is a very good conductor
of heat and electricity. Fragments of a broken pencil nib in zero-gravity space
can cause much bigger problems. For example, they can get into different
electrical equipment and cause a short circuit. A fire can occur in an
atmosphere containing pure oxygen within the capsule.
After an explosion in the Apollo 1 cabin
caused all the astronauts to burn to death, NASA was looking for writing
material that wouldn't pose a fire risk. Then Paul C. Fisher's pen-making
company Fisher Space Pen Company budgeted millions of dollars to make this pen.
Then NASA bought each pen for just $2.95. Within a few days, the Russians also
started using this special pen instead of the pencil. Which will work from
below zero to 300-degree centigrade temperature.
Written By
Jeion Ahmed
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