Sometimes when writing with a ballpoint pen midword or mid-sentence the pen stops writing momentarily. If you pick up the pen start on a different section of paper it seems to correct itself immediately but if you go back to that original section it still won’t write. Is this a pen issue or a paper issue? I’m over 50 and I’ve believe I know how to use a pen, but this issue has been present as long as I can remember.
In: Other
a little both; but mainly paper.
the paper has microscopic fibers that cause friction, this moves the ball which then moves ink…….writing over a “dead spot” doesnt work because there is still no friction occouring.
maybe the pen has a faulty ball point….but usually its the paper
Most often caused by the paper being a little bit oily or generally dirty, which as others have said will stop rolling the ball in the pen.
The ball point is supposed to roll. If it doesn’t it presses the fuzzy paper flat. This area is now less capable of rolling the ball
Sometimes if the pen is dropped ball point down it damages the ball causing it to not roll as smoothly.
Others have stated issues with paper, the ball being jammed, and several other reasons. All are valid, sometimes.
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Greasy fingerprints or slightly wet paper can accidentally clean the ball, writing somewhere else can allow the ball to re ink, going back to the original place it will stop again. Right handers often leave grease behind as their hand moves across the page unknowingly. Sometimes the texture of paper plays a part in this.
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The ball of the pen is hard steel (edit: or tungsten carbide, brass, etc.. Point is it’s way harder than paper). Zoomed way in, the paper surface is fuzzy. The ball is gripped by the fuzzy surface enough so that it rolls rather than slides, putting down ink as it rolls.
When the pen “fails” the ball gets jammed and is dragged across the surface without rolling. This creates a smooth hardened packed down “channel” or trough in the paper surface. You can scribble elsewhere and get the ball rolling again on fresh paper, but when you come back to the failure area, the paper surface is already compacted and smoothed out by the dragging ball during the failure. So it has less grip on the ball than fresh fuzzy paper surface. This often results in the ball dragging across this area once again. And the more it happens the surface just gets more and more smooth and compacted so it’s self-worsening once the process begins.
Source: copied from [my own previous answer here.](https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/s/nr9Km6Cizi)
Thanks to everyone who answered. Now I can sleep tonight.
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