💧 The Never-Ending Drip 💧

in STEMGeekslast month (edited)

Proper science takes times. Sometimes years or even decades... And sometimes it outlasts entire generations of the scientists involved!

Today's story is about the Pitch Drop Experiment, aka the longest-running laboratory experiment.

The experiment began in 1927 at the University of Queensland, Australia, by Professor Thomas Parnell with the purpose to demonstrate students the extreme viscosity of pitch, a substance that may appear solid but is actually a very slow-flowing liquid, with each drop taking years and years to.. drop 💧

The experiment involves a funnel filled with pitch, which slowly drips over time. Extremely slowly that is.

Due to the extremely slow rate of flow, it can take years for a single drop to fall. As of 2023, only nine drops have fallen since the experiment began, making it a truly patient endeavor.

The first drop fell in December 1938 and the ninth and last drop fell sometime in April 2014 and the next one is expected to fall sometime in this decade!

There's even a Livestream of the experiment, who knows, maybe you get lucky enough to witness the fall of the 10th drop if you tune in

Be warned though, the show is quite boring 😂

Pitch_drop_experiment_with_John_Mainstone.jpg
The University of Queensland pitch drop experiment, featuring its custodian, Professor John Mainstone, source

And this is a quick sum up of the world's longest experiment. Here's a link to Wikipedia and a link to Queensland university if you'd like to read more on it!

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Wow... that actually puts the time honored pastimes of "watching paint dry" and "watching grass grow" to shame!

It sure does lmao

!pimp

@tipu curate

Tanks

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Waiting years for a drop seems pretty long. I would be way too bored to watch the livestream but I guess people can feel accomplished when they do see one drop down.

!pimp

Sometimes people waste their time on weird things, and sometimes on really weird things :) !BEER

It is what it is !pimp

Kind of a constant
!BEER !VSC !LOL

Why did the scarecrow win an Oscar ?
He was best in his field .

Credit: reddit
@trumpman, I sent you an $LOLZ on behalf of barski

(8/10)

PLAY & EARN $DOOM

 last month Reveal Comment

I read about this recently and love it. !PIMP !LUV !COCKNBALLS !PIZZA !LOLZ

!pimp

a truly patient endeavor

That's even better than watching paint dry :))

🙈🙈🙈😂😂😂

But why???? Who cares how long pitch takes to drip…..🤦🏻
What a waste…

Why not 😂

If that’s what you are into pops….🤣🤣🤣
!pimp

I knew that scientists do not get their salaries in vain.

😄😂

Oh... the livestream link is dead!!!

EDIT: But I found it elsewhere! There were 17 of us on!

A big hit 😂

I showed by older daughter later... there were 28!!!

!hiqvote

PIZZA!

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@trumpman, the HiQ Smart Bot has recognized your request (1/3) and will start the voting trail.

In addition, @trumpman gets !PIMP from @hiq.redaktion.

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I'm sure someday this experiment will change the face of the world, but probably not! Interesting though!

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