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Scientists capture pitch drop on camera for first time (w/ Video)
Phys.Org ^ | 07-22-2013 | Staff

Posted on 07/22/2013 7:01:13 AM PDT by Red Badger

The Pitch Drop experiment set up in 1944 at Trinity College Dublin's School of Physics is one of the world's oldest continuously running experiments.

The experiment was established to demonstrate that pitch is a material that flows, albeit with an incredibly high viscosity hence extremely slowly. Also known as asphalt or bitumen, pitch appears to be solid at room temperature.

Whilst pitch has been dropping from the funnel in Trinity since 1944, nobody had ever witnessed a drop fall. It happens roughly only once in a decade.

In May of this year, with the latest drop about to fall, Professor Shane Bergin broadcast the experiment via the web. On July 11th, the drop dripped. You can see a time lapse video of this here.

Tracking the evolution of the drop, Professor Denis Weaire and Professor Stefan Hutzler, and David Whyte calculated the viscosity of the pitch to be 2x107 Pa s, approximately 2 million times the viscosity of honey.

Commenting on the significance of the demonstration, Professor Shane Bergin stated: "People love this experiment because it gets to the heart of what good science is all about – curiosity. Over these past few months, there has been constant chat about when the drip would drop. I watched the time lapse video of the pitch drop falling over and over again. I was amazed. This was the first time this phenomenon was ever witnessed!"

The School of Physics at Trinity College Dublin has many old demonstrations and ancient experimental kit. The Pitch Drop experiment was begun when Nobel Prize winner Earnest Walton was head of the department.

The University of Queensland have a similar experiment that was begun in 1927. The Guinness Book of World Records ranks this as the world's longest running experiment. Whilst 8 drops have fallen in this experiment, nobody has ever witnessed one fall.

Whilst it will be roughly another 10 years before the next drop falls, you can look at the live experiment here.



TOPICS: Education; History; Science; Weird Stuff
KEYWORDS: experiment; pitchdrop; science
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To: Red Badger

Slow pitch softball . . . strike ten.


41 posted on 07/22/2013 7:29:28 AM PDT by Fester Chugabrew
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To: DManA
Any reason it’s not expressed as 214 Pa s?

Because that notation is intended to express "two times ten to the seventh power," or 20,000,000.

42 posted on 07/22/2013 7:30:28 AM PDT by Oberon (Big Brutha Be Watchin'.)
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To: F15Eagle
Uh,a,uh that is a keeper!!
43 posted on 07/22/2013 7:30:52 AM PDT by Cheerio (Barry Hussein Soetoro-0bama=The Complete Destruction of American Capitalism)
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Comment #44 Removed by Moderator

To: fwdude

It does. Buildings several hundred years old with the original glass have windows that are thicker at the bottom than the top.


45 posted on 07/22/2013 7:37:18 AM PDT by Free Vulcan (Vote Republican! You can vote Democrat when you're dead...)
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To: Free Vulcan

Some panes are. Some are thicker on the sides and some are thicker on the top.

It is do to the construction methods of the glass hundreds of years ago, not glass flowing.


46 posted on 07/22/2013 7:40:43 AM PDT by thackney (life is fragile, handle with prayer)
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To: driftdiver

...and it seems the same asphalt is repaired year after year. Seems like endless makework programs. Government at work.


47 posted on 07/22/2013 7:41:24 AM PDT by bramps (Sarah Palin got more votes in 2008 than Mitt Romney got in 2012)
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To: cuban leaf

If a pitch drops in the lab and there is nobody there to see it, did it really drop?..............


48 posted on 07/22/2013 7:46:35 AM PDT by Red Badger (Want to be surprised? Google your own name......Want to have fun? Google your friend's names........)
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To: fwdude

You could get a government grant to ‘study’ it!............for like 1000 years!............


49 posted on 07/22/2013 7:47:54 AM PDT by Red Badger (Want to be surprised? Google your own name......Want to have fun? Google your friend's names........)
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To: Patriot95

Got to start all over again..............


50 posted on 07/22/2013 7:48:16 AM PDT by Red Badger (Want to be surprised? Google your own name......Want to have fun? Google your friend's names........)
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To: CodeToad

TWO colleges did this..........


51 posted on 07/22/2013 7:48:39 AM PDT by Red Badger (Want to be surprised? Google your own name......Want to have fun? Google your friend's names........)
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To: left that other site

In today’s dollars or 1944 dollars?............


52 posted on 07/22/2013 7:49:28 AM PDT by Red Badger (Want to be surprised? Google your own name......Want to have fun? Google your friend's names........)
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To: Alter Kaker

Hmmm... should I watch Pitch Drop or Baby Drop?......decisions, decisions........


53 posted on 07/22/2013 7:50:48 AM PDT by Red Badger (Want to be surprised? Google your own name......Want to have fun? Google your friend's names........)
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To: DManA

Yes, it’s a mis-print. That should be 2x10^7 Pa.............or IOW, a whole bunch of Pa’s........


54 posted on 07/22/2013 7:52:40 AM PDT by Red Badger (Want to be surprised? Google your own name......Want to have fun? Google your friend's names........)
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To: Red Badger

Actually it appears more exciting than some baseball games I’ve watched over the years.


55 posted on 07/22/2013 8:08:27 AM PDT by Portcall24 (WAS WHERE3)
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To: Red Badger

lol! Well, they do need confirmation, however, scientifically, they need two more such that three colleges verify the first.


56 posted on 07/22/2013 8:08:30 AM PDT by CodeToad (Liberals are bloodsucking ticks. We need to light the matchstick to burn them off. -786 +969)
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To: Portcall24

Well, in a baseball game a ‘dropped pitch’ would be exciting......bases loaded, two outs in the bottom of the ninth, three balls and two strikes...............


57 posted on 07/22/2013 8:09:57 AM PDT by Red Badger (Want to be surprised? Google your own name......Want to have fun? Google your friend's names........)
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To: CodeToad

I used to work in calibration labs for a military contractors and one of the things I had to check was the accuracy of the ‘viscosity cups’ that are used to verify the viscosity of paints used on aircraft. Very boring, but essential...........


58 posted on 07/22/2013 8:12:31 AM PDT by Red Badger (Want to be surprised? Google your own name......Want to have fun? Google your friend's names........)
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To: Red Badger

Now that’s funny.


59 posted on 07/22/2013 8:14:46 AM PDT by Portcall24 (WAS WHERE3)
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To: Red Badger

pffft ! .. thought this was a baseball thread

60 posted on 07/22/2013 8:15:37 AM PDT by tomkat
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