The Fluid Dynamics of Fountain Pens
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What is the episode’s introduction and who are the hosts?
Welcome to The Rest of Science. I'm Hannah
Fry. And I'm Michael Stevens. It's time, Michael. Is it time? It's time. Finally. The day has finally come. Man, I was just saying, we did a video about my watches and people were like, stop it, Michael. It's Hannah's turn to do fountain pen.
It's fountain pen day. I love it. I've been. I wanted to wait until you were in person.
That makes sense. That makes sense. And I can't wait to try these because I've probably used a fountain pen once in my life. Really? I'm not very familiar with them. Okay.
Hey, you're gonna not only be familiar with the uh delightful range that I brought you, but with the incredibly beautiful physics that lies between. Good, because I don't know how they work. Because let me tell you this, right? Fountain pears is not just like doodling with a ballpoint, right? This is an elegant dance of hydrodynamics going on behind the scenes. You're about to be blown away by it. And so are you. And so are you. Okay, so here they are. Here's my this is not. Not my entire collection, but I just thought I'd bring a range. Yeah, yeah. Yeah. Some of these are much more expensive than others. Can I guess which one's the most expensive? You can. You can. And some of them are more special than others.
So so more expensive and special are not the same thing. Haven't really thought this through. Here we go. Okay, do you want to have a little look? See what you reckon is the most expensive.
Okay, I'm gonna guess the most expensive is this one.
You're absolutely correct.
Okay. Should we hold it up? Yeah. I'll hold this up. Yeah. It's it's heavy. It is heavy. Oh my gosh.
Which fountain pens does Hannah showcase and how does she categorize them?
I'm big. And it just looks like it's made of platinum probably or something.
I don't actually think it is. I
don't think it is, but But you're right. The
reason why this is expensive though, this is like this is sort of um writing instruments become jewelry, right? That's it. Right? Yes,
that's what I was looking for. The jewelry component.
This is like you're signing s autographs with this pen. Okay. That's what you're doing. Do you want to try it? Should I really start with that one? I don't think this is the nicest one. Okay, all right, yeah. It's the most expensive, but I don't think it's the nicest. How do I start? What do I do? Wait, let me just let me tell you what this one is really quickly though. Please. Before you uh okay. Uh the reason why this one is expensive is because it's like a limited edition Jimi Hendrix special thing. Do you see how this is like the guitar? You see what I mean? I get it. That's like some little
wawa bar. Or what do
they call that? Let's call it a wah wah. No, let's call
it what it is. So that everyone goes, Wow, he knows guitars so well. Wha whammy bar. The Wawa pedal. All right, hold let me say this again. Uh oh that's like the whammy bar on my mini guitars. Don't pretend for even a second that you
didn't think it was called the Wa Wah bar.
Um editors include that entire bit because there's a it pays off.
This episode is brought to you by Cancer Research UK.
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I have two favorites. One is my favorite to write with, and the other is my favorite because of the m mechanism.
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Chapters
5 chapters
1
What is the episode’s introduction and who are the hosts?
0:01–1:31
2
Which fountain pens does Hannah showcase and how does she categorize them?
1:31–4:52
3
How do capillary action, surface tension, and air pressure control ink flow in a fountain pen?
4:52–21:56
4
Which pens does Michael test, and what does he discover about writing speed and line quality?
21:56–43:10
5
Which pen does Hannah name as her personal favorite and why?
43:10–1:05:05