P4 8 The Writing’s On The Wall

Abstract

In this paper we discuss the effects of the exploding pen from the James Bond film "GoldenEye". During a demonstration, the pen is seen to be able to remove the torso of a human. A typical Parker jotter pen, the apparent pen used in the film, can hold 8.2 ml of high explosives, in this case that is 14 g of TNT. This releases 32,000 J of energy into the chest. By treating the explosion like crater formation we can calculate a hole created by the pen to be 89 mm. This would kill a human but would not cause the total destruction of a torso as seen in the film. For this to be the case a 6.9 kg stick of TNT would be needed, not quite as stylish as a slim Parker pen.