![]() ![]() Now, 87 years after the funnel was cut, only nine drops have fallen - the last drop fell in April 2014 and we expect the next one to fall sometime in the 2020s. Since then, the pitch has slowly dripped out of the funnel - so slowly that it took eight years for the first drop to fall, and more than 40 years for another five to follow. ![]() He allowed the pitch to cool and settle for three years, and then in 1930 he cut the funnel's stem. In 1927 Professor Parnell heated a sample of pitch and poured it into a glass funnel with a sealed stem. But, in fact, at room temperature the substance - which is 100 billion times more viscous than water - is actually fluid. ![]() Thomas Parnell, UQ's first Professor of Physics, created the experiment in 1927 to illustrate that everyday materials can exhibit quite surprising properties.Īt room temperature pitch feels solid - even brittle - and can easily be shattered with a hammer. The experiment demonstrates the fluidity and high viscosity of pitch, a derivative of tar that is the world's thickest known fluid and was once used for waterproofing boats. We're home to the famous Pitch Drop experiment, which holds the Guinness World Record for the longest-running laboratory experiment. To date, only nine drops have fallen in our famous Pitch Drop experiment. ![]()
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