Drawing The Line - 3

What is this mysterious third problem which I encountered as I started my Line Around The World? If you have read the posts that led up to this ambitious undertaking, you might remember that when I was a wee lad I was impressed by a TV commercial. Of course, you have all been likewise impressed. Maybe it isn't the same commercial that so impressed you, but there is at less one for everyone. That is the whole point of the multi-billion dollar advertising industry. For example, I was also taught by a TV commercial that the Wet Head is Dead. Remember that one? So even today, forty years later I never use any hair tonic. My hair blows free, Robert Redford like, in the afternoon breeze. Which is odd. They must have been selling something, but I'm not using it on my hair, or anywhere else on my body I can think of, whatever it was.

Anyway this vividly remembered commercial for some ball point pen or other stated that this said pen could draw a line around the world. Of course I had to see for myself. I was skeptical. I told my wife that it probably wouldn't even reach Sacramento. That is only about an hour and a half drive away from where I'm sitting.

So imagine my utter shock and dismay when I discovered that the vaulted ball point pen I was using for this adventure, will fail me after less than a mile. Oh dear, I'm sorry. I forgot to tell you to sit down first. A mile! Either I have spent a dollar fifty on a seriously defective pen, or perhaps my memory of that commercial is slightly flawed. Could it be that the man (or woman) that was holding the pen while standing on the highway (or Bonneville Salt Flat) said that the pen could write a line a mile long? Could this statement that have impressed anyone? It certainly doesn't impress me now.

This resounding discovery was made in a very scientific manner. Simply stated, I measured the level of ink in the pen and drew a line along a measured course. After wards I remeasured the level of the ink.

Before drawing the line the level of the ink was 81 mm.

A line 800 inches long was drawn on a notebook page. Here it is.

When remeasured the level was 79 mm.

Just to be really scientific about it, I did a second trial.

Level before: 79 mm

An 800 inch line was drawn.

Level after: 77 mm

Therefore, both trials show that it took 2 mm of ink to draw a line 800 inches long. With a little math we can find that a line 30,800 inches can be drawn with the remaining 77 mm of ink. This works out to be 0.486 of a mile. So all told with the portion of the line I had already completed, the pen would go for about 6/10ths or 3/5ths of a mile. Even with a significant margin of error for measuring, it is doubtful that it could make up a several thousand mile shortage.

This discovery struck at the very heart of the whole endeavor and came even as the project had taken root in my mind. Of course I could go on, replacing the pen every half mile. The thought of running 50,000 pens out of ink did have some appeal. In fact a lot of appeal! But combined with the need to purchase 1.1 million rolls of cash register tape, it didn't really fit into the budget. Fortunately, at just this moment a new product came onto the market which solves my problem and fits into the spirit of the venture.

More about that later.

Jonathan