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[Partially incorrect, see comments.] Pens in Space (mander.xyz)

submitted 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago) by fossilesque@mander.xyz to c/science_memes@mander.xyz

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[-] LovableSidekick@lemmy.world 11 points 12 hours ago* (last edited 12 hours ago)

For decades these pens have been brought up to criticize wasteful spending, inaccurately. Fisher Price didn't even develop the pens for NASA, they were just a sales gimmick, and NASA didn't spend thousands of dollars each on them, they just bought them. Space flight was getting a lot of publicity back then, so products that related themselves to space were popular, like Space Food Sticks - tootsie-rollish snacks supposedly full of protein and nourishment. To me they tasted too much like raw flour. "Energy" of course was a euphemism for sugar.

[-] boughtmysoul@lemmy.world 1 points 8 hours ago

“Do me a personal favour. Take the pen!”

[-] Draegur@lemm.ee 54 points 20 hours ago

Also you DON'T FUCKING WANT GRAPHITE DUST FLOATING AROUND IN ZERO G

[-] pdqcp@lemmy.dbzer0.com 17 points 19 hours ago* (last edited 19 hours ago)

Why not? I'm not well versed in the theme. Would it be flammable?

edit: just saw another post mentioning this: lack of gravity, enter floating in the electronic, causing short circuits as main risk.

[-] LovableSidekick@lemmy.world 4 points 12 hours ago* (last edited 12 hours ago)

The theme is to pretend recently-learned information was available half a century ago, and also to ignorantly inflate its importance. It turns out exposure to graphite dust in large concentrations can cause respiratory problems (like any kind of dust), but the amount of graphite emitted into the air by pencil use is insignificant, even in zero gravity.

[-] SynopsisTantilize@lemm.ee 19 points 19 hours ago

Also your body doesn't do a good job of breaking it down either. Id imagine that in your lungs would suck.

I have a piece of graphite in my leg from 7th grade still. I'm 33.

[-] Adalast@lemmy.world 5 points 15 hours ago

I have a graphite stain in my palm from 8th grade and I'm 40.

[-] SynopsisTantilize@lemm.ee 3 points 11 hours ago

Left handed or did you get stabbed too?

[-] Zerush@lemmy.ml 523 points 1 day ago

The reason not to use pencils in Space wasn't that Pencil are inflamable, the main reason was the graphit dust produced by Pencils, which because of the lack of gravity, enter floating in the electronic, causing short circuits as main risk.

[-] ninja@lemmy.world 267 points 1 day ago

[-] Phoenicianpirate@lemm.ee 50 points 1 day ago

That is something I found weird, too. Inflammable and flammable mean the same thing!

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[-] mojofrododojo@lemmy.world 41 points 1 day ago

also, fucking pencil shavings?

pencil shavings contain graphite (great for getting into shit and shorting shit out) and thin paper (think, kindling)

did the russians gnaw the fucking things sharp? no? idiots...

[-] Madison420@lemmy.world 11 points 1 day ago

Grease pencil, you pull a tab and the things unrolls.

[-] yuri@pawb.social 2 points 13 hours ago

side note, mechanical grease pencils are literally some of the best goddamn marking tools ever invented by humans, and the fact that we’ve moved away from them as a standard in favor of sharpie-style disposible markers is APPALLING.

there’s myriad “industrial” markers you can buy, which are generally especially well suited to one specific inclement situation. low temp markers won’t freeze, but will often bleed and feather. oil-proof markers will write on a slippery surface, but will smear and take ages to dry proper (RIP lefties). paint markers can write on anything, but only as long as the surface doesn’t immediately destroy your nib and prevent future wicking.

grease pencils (quality ones at least) go down like a crayon, stick to ANYTHING, and generally won’t smear at all. obviously no one should be writing their thesis with one, but they can do pretty much everything we use permanent markers for. they’re also cheaper and produce far less waste.

as far as i can tell the biggest downside is there’s a smaller profit margin for the manufacturers.

[-] janus2@lemmy.zip 2 points 11 hours ago

I love my grease pencils and use them for writing kitchen leftover contents on glass and ceramic dishes. This works like a dream when the dish is warm and just fine when the dish is room temperature.

However, it's nearly impossible to write on cold or frozen dishes. In my old lab when was young and stupid, I'd hold the spot I wanted to write on over a flame for a few seconds (lucky I never exploded a liter of expensive research water and glass on myself, or worse). Now I do my best with vigorously rubbing the spot with a kitchen towel for a few seconds, but still usually get a barely readable mark.

Aside from figuring out how to etch those little white squares that lab glassware has onto my kitchen dishes, anyone have any ideas around this?

[-] yuri@pawb.social 2 points 10 hours ago

also you can etch those lil white squares surprisingly easily with commercially available glass etching creams, my mom used to fuck around with em a lot in like the 90’s i think.

[-] janus2@lemmy.zip 1 points 9 hours ago* (last edited 9 hours ago)

oh god oh fuck what have you done do you understand how many niche DIY toolkits I have now I'm forced to add another

edit: oh wait it's just one bottle. what's one more bottle of engineering goo? 🫠

[-] yuri@pawb.social 1 points 10 hours ago

maybe a difference in the actual composition of the grease? i was writing on polished stainless pots at below freezing temps, but i was ALSO using new-old-stock refills bc the current standard size is it’s own proprietary can of worms lol

[-] janus2@lemmy.zip 1 points 9 hours ago

Huh. Never occurred to me they likely come in different compositions for different uses.

[-] Madison420@lemmy.world 2 points 12 hours ago

Im a fan of grease pencils yeah, especially for marking on windows. I'm a mechanic and sometimes I just do the diag notes on the cars Windows or if laziness.

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[-] BeNotAfraid@lemmy.world 20 points 1 day ago

Think of how revolutionary crayola twistables would have been for NASA?

[-] SynopsisTantilize@lemm.ee 7 points 19 hours ago

So they could have infinite chunks of broken crayan floating around them. I can never not break those no matter how lite I use rhem

[-] SparroHawc@lemm.ee 1 points 15 hours ago

The air filters would capture it eventually. It's not like the ISS has dead air.

[-] SynopsisTantilize@lemm.ee 1 points 11 hours ago

You're assuming I wouldn't try to eat them all like floating packman

[-] BeNotAfraid@lemmy.world 1 points 19 hours ago

You're the kid I stopped sharing my colours with.

[-] SynopsisTantilize@lemm.ee 2 points 11 hours ago

Oh shit wassup

[-] FinishingDutch@lemmy.world 32 points 1 day ago

I’ve owned a fair few Fisher Space Pens throughout the years. It’s an interesting bit of space memorabilia that’s functional and affordable. It’s an impressive bit of engineering.

As a space nerd, I love the pen. As a pen guy…. There’s better options. The cartridge just doesn’t write as smooth as I like, nor is it a really bold, saturated line. For daily actual writing use, I use a Lamy Safari rollerball or a Pilot B2P.

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[-] jjagaimo@sh.itjust.works 188 points 1 day ago

Besides that, NASA wasn't the one that funded the research behind the pen, they bought the completed pens. The expenses for the research were funded by Fisher

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[-] IDKWhatUsernametoPutHereLolol@lemmy.dbzer0.com 16 points 1 day ago

It's a cool pen. "Btw, this pen was the same type of pen used by Astronauts"; I mean, how's that for a conversation starter 😁