In 1927, a professor at a laboratory in Brisbane warmed up some pitch and put it in a sealed funnel. Pitch is a black substance, like tar but hard and brittle. Three years later, the professor cut the end off the funnel and put it on a tripod over a container.
It took eight years but, eventually, a drop of the pitch fell into the container. The object of the experiment was to prove that pitch is a liquid, not a solid. Since that first drop, eight more have fallen, the latest in April 2014. It’s not a regular thing and depends on the environment. Sometimes the apparatus has been in a cupboard, at other times in a draughty corridor, under cool fluorescent tubes or hot halogen lights.
The funny thing is that no one has seen a drop fall. At the Brisbane Expo, four or five people watched it constantly; it was a hot day so they went out for a drink .. and the drop dropped. In 2000, a live stream was set up for a Millennium Event but an electrical storm cut the power, and the drop dropped.
The Pitch Drop experiment is looked after by a senior scientist. John Mainstone took on the responsibility in 1961. In April 2014, he told his wife he wouldn’t be home because he believed a drop was imminent. He stayed at his post all Friday night and all day Saturday, Saturday night and Sunday. By Sunday evening, exhausted, he went home … and the drop dropped.
The current custodian is Professor Andrew White and more than 35000 people in 160 countries today are sweating on the 10th drop through a live internet feed. Probably they’ll be waiting a while yet. Pitch flows 10 times slower than continental drift.
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