Queensland University’s Pitch Drop Experiment Sees Results For The First Time In Years

Queensland University’s Pitch Drop Experiment Sees Results For The First Time In Years

Since 1930, there has been a science experiment that basically does nothing. Seriously. Scientists watch as a solid — that’s actually a liquid 230 billion times more viscous than water — drips down a glass container. But that takes time. A lot of time with a whole lot of nothing. For the past 84 years, the blob of tar has only dripped 8 times. It finally dripped the 9th time.

Queensland University’s Pitch Drop Experiment Sees Results For The First Time In Years

The resin looks like a solid that can even break, but it’s actually a liquid.

It’s exciting! The world’s longest science experiment finally had something happen to it! The last time the blob dripped was 13 years ago!

Sadly though, the scientist who was in charge of the experiment hosted at the University of Queensland in Brisbane, Australia had passed away last year before he could see it drip this 9th time. What’s worse, Professor John Mainstone had never seen the pitch drop even before he died. He missed the past 5 drops completely (the first 3 drops occurred when the creator of the experiment, Professor Thomas Parnell, was in charge of it) which means he never saw his experiment go through. Crap luck.

If you want to see the pitch drop at its current state, you can head here. For a timelapse of the drop that takes place over 2 years, you can watch it below.



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