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From: beede@hubcap.UUCP
Newsgroups: sci.misc
Subject: Re: Osmium?
Message-ID: <197@hubcap.UUCP>
Date: Tue, 16-Jun-87 20:19:37 EDT
Article-I.D.: hubcap.197
Posted: Tue Jun 16 20:19:37 1987
Date-Received: Thu, 18-Jun-87 03:43:32 EDT
References: <336@gtx.com>
Distribution: na
Organization: Clemson University, Clemson, SC
Lines: 13

in article <336@gtx.com>, al@gtx.com (0732) says:
> 
> [...]osmium (smell them?) and melt them down. But seriously, what property
> of osmium would make it a choice for a ball-point pen tip?

The answer is obvious--since osmium is so dense, when dropped, the pen
tends to land point first, damaging it so that another pen must be
purchased.  This sort of reasoning drives many manufacturing decisions :-)
-- 
Mike Beede                      UUCP: . . . !gatech!hubcap!beede
Computer Science Dept.          ARPA: BEEDE@TECNET-CLEMSON.ARPA
Clemson University              INET: beede@hubcap.clemson.edu
Clemson SC 29631-1906           PH: (803)656-{2845,3444}