Comments on: HOW TO: Make silver ink that conducts electricity

By: Ben Ehlers

Ben Ehlers — Tue, 18 Oct 2011 05:51:00 +0000

I would have loved to have this for my practicum placement last year. Being able to actually just turn a circuit diagram into a circuit would have really grabbed the student’s interest I think.

Now when will Noodler’s get this for my fountain pen?

By: semiotix

semiotix — Tue, 18 Oct 2011 03:48:00 +0000

(edit: in reply to robjmiller)

I think it’s an anti-cheating measure. You can pay someone to take the test for you, and you can give them a fake ID with your name on it, but that person won’t have cursive handwriting that matches yours (assuming they get suspicious enough to check later on).

I’m not saying that’s an especially good solution, but I believe that’s the intent. If it were printing, you actually probably could affect a simple draughtsman’s block lettering where even strangers could make their handwriting look fairly similar on short notice.

For the LSAT, at least eight years ago, they just took your fingerprints with a neat little invisible ink thing. Obviously, that has its own complications and issues.

By: Nightflyer

Nightflyer — Tue, 18 Oct 2011 03:13:00 +0000

Well, the paper would bend…

By: annomination

annomination — Tue, 18 Oct 2011 02:05:00 +0000

but will it BEND???

By: Antinous / Moderator

Antinous / Moderator — Mon, 17 Oct 2011 23:09:00 +0000

There’s a murder mystery story here somewhere.

I was thinking more along the lines of another brilliant idea for getting rid of Fidel Castro.

By: mat catastrophe

mat catastrophe — Mon, 17 Oct 2011 23:08:00 +0000

There’s a murder mystery story here somewhere.

By: David Lorang

David Lorang — Mon, 17 Oct 2011 21:41:00 +0000

For those suggesting the use of a pencil, I would counter-suggest that you test it yourself. Use a multimeter and repeat the experiment 40 sec into the movie, but with a pencil. I got 2.2 mega ohms. That makes the silver pen about 100,000 times more conductive.

By: semiotix

semiotix — Mon, 17 Oct 2011 21:31:00 +0000

If I draw a squiggle in my circuit like so:

—–√//——

will it put in a resistor?

By: Dewi Morgan

Dewi Morgan — Mon, 17 Oct 2011 18:56:00 +0000

I read somewhere that the BBC has this thing where newscasters speak with downward inflection at the end of sentences: the point being that they don’t then put in their own inflection of surprise or questioning, and it all sounds much more staid and controlled and impartial.

Other broadcasters do this too, with varying levels of success.

By: Peter Chylewski

Peter Chylewski — Mon, 17 Oct 2011 18:30:00 +0000

Now….

Can we make a version of this ink that works with … inkjet printers … ?

By: JPW

JPW — Mon, 17 Oct 2011 18:21:00 +0000

O/T: What is the name of the popularized speech affectation that the narrator haaass–sounding all gravelly and exhausted on the last word of every sentennncce? Besides ‘annoooyying.’

By: JakeHamilton

JakeHamilton — Mon, 17 Oct 2011 18:15:00 +0000

Now I just need a human sacrifice, custom iPhone software package, and working knowledge of Middle Enochian to raise our Great Lord from the watery grave where he lies sleeping…cower mortals, for Great Chthulhu’s return is imminent!

By: griever

griever — Mon, 17 Oct 2011 18:12:00 +0000

I’d like to point out cursive is also important in laser cutting:

http://www.lasersoverlosangeles.com/?p=71

Cursive is classy. I bet you guys don’t even take your hats off when a lady is present.

By: robjmiller

robjmiller — Mon, 17 Oct 2011 17:36:00 +0000

On the subject of cursive, I recently took the GRE and was informed that not only did I need to sign an agreement, I needed to write out the agreement in cursive before signing it. No print allowed. It took me about 20 minutes of painstaking pensmanship as I hadn’t used cursive since the sixth grade. Anyone know why this is a requirement?

By: RadioSilence

RadioSilence — Mon, 17 Oct 2011 17:33:00 +0000

I don’t think they were ever used in space, were they?

By: chieflarry

chieflarry — Mon, 17 Oct 2011 17:32:00 +0000

This is really not all that different from the silver inks that are used as conductors on the surfaces of solar cells. However, those are usually screen-printed, in exactly the same manner as you would do with a t-shirt, and the silver particles in a screen-printed ink are probably too large (and the paste too viscous) for a ball-point pen. The inks used in solar cells also have to be sintered to the underlying silicon at pretty high temperature — they don’t just dry in air in a few seconds — so I think this stuff is pretty cool. It won’t find a use in the type of solar cell made by most companies today, for a number of reasons, but there are certain advanced types of cells where I wouldn’t be surprised to find some variant of this turn up someday.

By: shamowfski

shamowfski — Mon, 17 Oct 2011 17:16:00 +0000

I can’t find a link to the product, but I was using a retail version of this a few weeks ago when I made a blu-ray laser. Was a blue pen looking thing with silver “solder” ink that came out. Worked great. Buddy of mine found it somewhere and bought it.

edit: Like this:

http://www.mgchemicals.com/products/8420p.html

By: scruss

scruss — Mon, 17 Oct 2011 16:53:00 +0000

May I refer you to that seminal work of evidently bored grad students, “The effect of moist air on the resistance of pencil lines” (J B Seth et al 1928 Proc. Phys. Soc. 41 29)?

By: nox

nox — Mon, 17 Oct 2011 16:43:00 +0000

Pencils are no longer used in space due to conductive graphite fragments and dust contamination.

By: Blake Andersen

Blake Andersen — Mon, 17 Oct 2011 16:39:00 +0000

HOW TO: Make silver ink that conducts electricity: Use a pencil.

By: RadioSilence

RadioSilence — Mon, 17 Oct 2011 16:39:00 +0000

Doesn’t pencil also do that? and pencils are much cheaper.

Reminds me of that old apocryphal story about Nasa spending millions developing the space pen, the Russians just used pencils.

By: Aaron Swain

Aaron Swain — Mon, 17 Oct 2011 16:34:00 +0000

That is incredibly awesome.

By: Bottle Imp

Bottle Imp — Mon, 17 Oct 2011 16:08:00 +0000

Love and want. I also like the idea that one day someone’s high school art class could also teach them circuitry.

By: BigVic Proton

BigVic Proton — Mon, 17 Oct 2011 16:04:00 +0000

shocking

By: Sawgrass Man

Sawgrass Man — Mon, 17 Oct 2011 16:01:00 +0000

Bo, sweet Bo, and the Duchess too!! Please don’t “fix” this, we’ll just use the link at the bottom of the post for the ink vid.