The power of a pen

My last piece for my chemistry assignment shall end as a tribute to the mighty pen.

Don't be startled. I'm not done just yet. XD. Words have brought us up to this day to who we are. If it wasn't for words, we couldn't have expressed ourselves better. If it wasn't for words, life would be better off impersonating a sycamore in the middle of a forest. If it wasn't for words, history would never have existed. And we would have never really evolved. As much as the written world have progressed to a digital future full of type-written destiny, if it wasn't as much as the mighty but humble pen, we wouldn't have read the greatest works of science, arts and religion. And yet what gives a pen the ability to speak? It is the ink.

Today, I will be discussing the chemical properties and characteristics of ink. Ah, the blotched blots that have shaped our future.. Ink is a complex mixture of solvent, pigments, dyes, resins, lubricants, solubilizers, and other materials.
Inks are divided into two types; solvent-based inks and water-based inks. Pigmented inks contain agents that straightens the adhesive properties, thus preventing removal by abrasion. These agents usually involves resins(for solvent-based inks) and binding agents(water-based kinds). Colour-printing inks are made primarily from solvents such as linseed oil,soybean oil or heavy petroleum distillate. The pigments are salts of dyes from nitrogen-containing compounds(-azo group in the organic chemistry. Inorganic pigments are also used in printing inks but its use is less extensive. Black ink is from carbon black, whereas white pigments, e.g. titanium dioxide, are used either by themselves or to lighten or darken different dyes. Inks also contain additives such as waxes, lubricants, surfactants, and drying agents to hasten and aid the printing process.

Fountain pens, on the other hand, contain water-based inks. However, since the introduction of ball-point pens during the 1950's, the writing ink industry marketed paste like, oil-based dye systems. The thick viscosity allowed fluidity due to the capillary action of the ball-point, which basically means it had less leakage issues as compared to it's fountain counterpart. The inks were also non-smearing and dries quicker than a water-based ink.

There is a major difference in the properties of dyes as opposed to the properties of pigments. Dyes are usually the preferred refills for writing inks because the pigments exist in rather large clumps, and therefore tend to clog up the pen tip. Water-based dye or pigment systems are still popular among the manufacturing of markers, highlighters etc.

The colour of an ink is based on dyes. The world's most expensive dye during ancient civilization was the colour blue. This was because blue was only found from a certain type of seashell. Hence, Royal Blue was aptly named after the richer community who could afford to boast their status to the commoners. Seashells are organic materials.
Azo compounds consist of the functional group R-N=N-R'. The R and R' groups could be either alkyl or aryl groups. The azo group is also discerned by the N=N bond in the compound. Because of the delocalization that exists in an aryl azo compound, the dyes display vivid colours. Azo groups are also present in acid-base indicators due to different colours of their acid and salt form. Azo dyes derived from benzidine were found to be carcinogenic.


Aryl azo compounds are found in a crystalline structure and they were stable compounds. As for the isomers of the azo compound, they are usually found as the trans isomer, but upon photolysis(exposure to light), would be converted to the cis isomer. Diazonium salts are unstable at room temperature. The oxidation of hydrazines would give azo compounds.


Alkyl azo compounds are not as common as the aryl azo compounds. When temperatures are increased, the carbon-nitrogen bonds in certain alkyl azo compounds break with the loss of nitrogen gas to create free radicals. Some aliphatic azo compounds are used as radical initiators especially in the polymerization process. The alkyl azo compounds also exhibit instability and therefore should be handled with extreme care to avoid explosion and such.

Because of the azo group's tendency to cleave and form free radicals, this explains why coloured clothes tend to fade as time goes on. It is simple to say that they evaporate when exposed to dry air, sunlight and bodily fluid. Coloured clothes are more resistant to fading nowadays because of the additional agents as explained in inks as well. The strength of adhesiveness in the pigment contributes to the rate of fading colour on clothes, paper and any objects that were stained with inks and dyes.

For books and pages that had withstood the force of time and change, inks too have evolved to become more resilient, hardy and impenetrable. To be immortalized in the memory of life, inks have done so much to give pens their true meaning. Just like values that have existed within us. Each and every step we take are our inks being used; now inseparable and penned forever in the blank slates of our present. Becoming our past, and possibly sketching our future. If pens were put to good use, it will benefit every possible sixth degree individuals that are connected to us. And their six degrees of relation affect others as well. But if we were to wield them for the unworthy, the inks would have been wasted. The blotches will grow but they would not have produced a thing so beautiful as to truly behold it within their eyes. Decide now, whether life is an art or an incomprehensible mess. For truly, if it wasn't for pens, swords would have done us in a long, long time ago.

Thank you for joining me in my discursive attempt on an household object so ordinary that it is unique on its own. But that is life, isn't it? ;)