Gel highlighters work by depositing a semi-solid gel stick onto the paper's surface, rather than using liquid ink like traditional highlighters. This gel formulation contributes to their unique characteristics.
Here's a breakdown of their mechanism:
- Gel Stick Application: The user glides the gel stick across the text they want to highlight. The pressure applied transfers a thin layer of the gel onto the paper.
- Smudge Resistance: The gel's consistency allows it to adhere to the paper without readily smearing, contributing to smudge resistance, especially compared to some liquid highlighter inks.
- Reduced Bleed-Through: Because the gel is less liquid, it's less likely to soak through the paper, minimizing bleed-through on thinner pages. This is a primary advantage.
- Crumbing Potential: A potential drawback is that the gel may occasionally leave behind small "crumbs" or fragments as it's applied, depending on the gel's formulation and the pressure applied.
- Drying Out Resistance: Gel highlighters are less prone to drying out compared to traditional highlighters with ink reservoirs because the gel is inherently less volatile. Therefore, forgetting to replace the cap is less problematic.
- Less Precise Lines: Due to the nature of the gel stick, achieving extremely fine or precise lines can be more challenging than with liquid-based highlighters.
In summary, gel highlighters use a gel stick to transfer color to paper, providing benefits such as reduced smudging and bleed-through, and resistance to drying out.
