Is Atomic Force Microscope a Suitable Tool for Studying Crossing Lines?

This work is a preliminary inquiry into the usefulness of atomic force microscope (AFM) to determine the sequence of crossing lines. Intersecting lines were prepared using different types of pens and printers and studied with AFM to discover whether any diagnostic feature could be found that would reliably indicate which line lay on top. The effect of the age of the ink/printer lines was also studied. Specimens were created with elapsed times between the applications of the 1st line and the 2nd line in seconds, days, weeks, and months in order to study whether the period of time elapsed between the entries, with possible hardening of resin components of certain inks, affected observations.