The first Professor of Physics at the University of Queensland, Professor Thomas Parnell, began an experiment in 1927 to illustrate that everyday materials can exhibit quite surprising properties. The experiment demonstrates the fluidity and high viscosity of pitch, a derivative of tar once used for waterproofing boats.
In the 80 years that the pitch has been dripping no-one has ever seen the drop fall.
Read more about this nerd topic here http://www.uq.edu.au/pitchdrop-test/

Here’s a live view I jacked from the site – watch the clock it’s in real time 🙂

imageA = “http://www.uq.edu.au/pitchdrop-test/images/”;
suffix = “.jpg”;
function StartA() {
tmp = new Date();
var pitch = tmp.getTime();
var percent = pitch % 1000;
var value = pitch – percent;
document.images[“PitchDrop”].src = imageA+value+suffix;
setTimeout(“StartA()”, 1000) ;
}
StartA();

This post was last modified on April 3, 2013 - learn more.

Jarod Thornton

"I love working on WordPress development!"

© 2025 bemis3lf - Jarod Thornton Studio