Since the beginning of 2024, the demand for the content created by the Wikimedia volunteer community – especially for the 144 million images, videos, and other files on Wikimedia Commons – has grow…
Just for fun, I tried three more pens and writing in an inverted position (i.e. towards the ceiling):
A Bic Crystal
A Papermate Gel
Some random pen from an auto shop with a nonstandard ballpoint tip (so probably some brand other than the first two).
All of them failed. Interestingly, the Crystal lasted the longest, but when it failed, it was almost immediate.
I’m not saying this is an especially scientific test, but I’ve now tried four different ballpoint pens, all from different manufacturers, and none could write upside down. Gravity is an important part of how they work on Earth.
It may be that you can still write in space, but I would hazard a guess that it has to do with whether you can keep ink on the ball. Since there’s no “down,” how you write or how you hold the pen when you take breaks might make things better or worse.
It’s cool, though, that he put it to the test. When I just put my pens to the side, they get refreshed and are able to write again, which is why my hypothesis is that it’s down to whether you can keep the ball continuously wet or not.
Pedro Duque wrote a diary entry in orbit in a Soyuz capsule using an ordinary ballpoint pen specifically to disprove this. Don’t know what went wrong with your pen, cheap ballpoint pens fail sometimes regardless of what orientation they’re in.
Just for fun, I tried three more pens and writing in an inverted position (i.e. towards the ceiling):
All of them failed. Interestingly, the Crystal lasted the longest, but when it failed, it was almost immediate.
I’m not saying this is an especially scientific test, but I’ve now tried four different ballpoint pens, all from different manufacturers, and none could write upside down. Gravity is an important part of how they work on Earth.
It may be that you can still write in space, but I would hazard a guess that it has to do with whether you can keep ink on the ball. Since there’s no “down,” how you write or how you hold the pen when you take breaks might make things better or worse.
It’s cool, though, that he put it to the test. When I just put my pens to the side, they get refreshed and are able to write again, which is why my hypothesis is that it’s down to whether you can keep the ball continuously wet or not.