migeo: How long-running is the longest-running lab experiment? Eighty-five years so far. The pitch-drop experiment—really more of a demonstration—began in 1927 when Thomas Parnell, a physics professor at the University of Queensland in Australia, set out to show his students that tar pitch, a derivative of coal so brittle that it can be smashed to pieces with a hammer, is in fact a highly viscous fluid. It flows at room temperature, albeit extremely slowly. Today the experiment is broadcast on a live webcam. (via Popular Science)

migeo:

How long-running is the longest-running lab experiment? Eighty-five years so far. The pitch-drop experiment—really more of a demonstration—began in 1927 when Thomas Parnell, a physics professor at the University of Queensland in Australia, set out to show his students that tar pitch, a derivative of coal so brittle that it can be smashed to pieces with a hammer, is in fact a highly viscous fluid. It flows at room temperature, albeit extremely slowly. Today the experiment is broadcast on a live webcam. (via Popular Science)

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31 notes | | Fri - Feb 10, 2012 - 20:49 PM
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