Ronn Blankenship wrote:
>
> At 06:19 PM 11/8/02, Julia Thompson wrote:
> >Ronn Blankenship wrote:
> > >
> > > At 11:16 PM 11/7/02, Jon Gabriel wrote:
> > >
> > > >Leo: "We spent millions of dollars developing a pen that could write in
> > > >space. Do you know what the Russians did?"
> > > >Josh: "Used a pencil?"
> > > >Leo: "Used a pencil."
> > > >~The West Wing~
> > >
> > > However, there was at least one good reason that NASA chose not to use
> > > pencils: the wood and graphite shavings generated by sharpening a pencil
> > > would float in the air in microgravity, (1) being breathed in by the
> > > astronauts and (2) perhaps getting into the electronic equipment and
> > > causing short circuits (graphite being a conductor) or sparks, which would
> > > have been fatal in the pure oxygen atmosphere used prior to the Apollo
> > 1 fire.
> >
> >OK, there's a way around *some* of those problems: use a mechanical
> >pencil.
> >
> >But there would probably be graphie dust generated when the pencil was
> >used to write. Not as much as there would be with sharpening a wood
> >pencil, but still some. Would that be reduced by using a harder
> >graphite, maybe?
>
> Which would be more brittle & would break more often, especially when
> someone attempted to check off a checklist while suited up for takeoff or
> landing. (Home experiment: Load your favorite mechanical pencil with 4H
> or harder lead, put a splint on your middle finger*, don heavy gloves such
> as you might wear for skiing, then attempt to write.)
Point taken.
> *The middle finger of the gloves was stiffened so the astronauts could use
> it to press buttons on the control panel, which proved to be too difficult
> to do with the gloves if a finger was not stiffened for that purpose. You
> will have to ask NASA why it was _that_ particular finger . . . maybe since
> many of the missions splashed down in the Pacific near Hawaii, they wanted
> all the good luck they could get . . .
OK, just stiffen up your hand and bring it straight down onto your
keyboard. Which finger hits first by virtue of extending a little
farther than any of the others? Wouldn't it make sense to stiffen that
one for button-pressing?
Julia
_______________________________________________
http://www.mccmedia.com/mailman/listinfo/brin-l
