5 ms·

Pitch Drop Experiment

88 points by acqbu 4y ago

dang 4y ago
Related: Pitch Drop Experiment - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=22255308 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=22255308 - Feb 2020 (30 comments) Pitch Drop Experiment - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=19529597 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=19529597 - March 2019 (12 comments) Pretty sure there have been other threads too, if anyone can find them.
- kmoser 4y ago
  I predict it'll be another 8-10 years before somebody posts this again.
isoprophlex 4y ago
It always struck me as slightly sad, and maybe even slightly poetic, that the guy starting the experiment died only months before the eight drop fell in 2014.
- proactivesvcs 4y ago
  "In 1988, with the experiment proudly displayed at Brisbane's World Expo, Prof Mainstone was fetching a drink when the seventh drop fell. By 2000, a video camera had been set up to capture drop number eight, but it malfunctioned at the crucial moment." Taken from https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-28402709 https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-28402709 I imagine he took this with the sort of humour that such a custodian would adopt for such an experiment!
smiley1437 4y ago
"In the 86 years that the pitch has been dripping, various glitches have prevented anyone from seeing a drop fall." You'd think there would be a backup camera or two by now
- s_dev 4y ago
  Other universities have caught it on camera. https://www.tcd.ie/news_events/articles/trinity-scientists-capture-pitch-drop-on-camera-for-first-time/ https://www.tcd.ie/news_events/articles/trinity-scientists-c...
- LVB 4y ago
  I just took a look at the feed (http://thetenthwatch.com/feed http://thetenthwatch.com/feed) and was amused that the time reference was a little Casio clock running a few minutes fast.
saalweachter 4y ago
I love how absolutely massive the drops are, as collected in the other beaker.
mjsweet 4y ago
My wife is an astrophysics lecturer at UQ. Whenever I take the kids around to visit her in her office, we often stop by to look at the pitch drop. I can't quite explain the experience of standing there for a few minutes willing the damn thing to drop. It's a quaint feeling of expectation, wilful wanting and wistful disappointment as you draw yourself away from the experiment... usually by a child pulling you by the hand to do more interesting things. While I'm standing here... is it going to drop? Strange feeling. Edited grammar.
- cmehdy 4y ago
  You could always tell your kids you're a live-streamer since you would be on camera: http://thetenthwatch.com/feed/ http://thetenthwatch.com/feed/
amelius 4y ago
How do they know the pitch is a homogeneous substance, and remains that way?
tony-allan 4y ago
Also information here (along with other interesting stuff)… https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/pitch-drop-experiment https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/pitch-drop-experiment
- fsckboy 4y ago
  that article hints that somebody did see a drip drop, it says it occurred during a beaker change and they extended the time for the next drop to 14 yrs out
stephen_g 4y ago
For a few semesters I used to walk past that most weeks to go to lectures, always had a look but the drop didn’t happen until a bit over a year after I graduated!
flobosg 4y ago
More long-term experiments: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Long-term_experiment https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Long-term_experiment My favorite is the LTEE: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/E._coli_long-term_evolution_experiment https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/E._coli_long-term_evolution_ex...
fsckboy 4y ago
> Thomas Parnell, UQ's first Professor of Physics, created the experiment in 1927 to illustrate that everyday materials can exhibit quite surprising properties...The experiment was set up as a demonstration and is not kept under special environmental conditions so in other words, it's not really an experiment. Still a nice demonstration, but I guess they're not measuring anything. And to all the people saying "set up a camera", sure, but that's not the same as seeing a drop fall. Be a nice demonstration to set up at home next to your bonsai tree (much earlier in life than I am able to currently) > In 1927 Professor Parnell heated a sample of pitch and poured it into a glass funnel with a sealed stem. He allowed the pitch to cool and settle for three years, and then in 1930 he cut the funnel's stem. 3 years to cool? is there any reason to think it didn't reach room temp much more quickly, like in a day? I know for telescope lenses they cool the glass very slowly, but that's externally imposed to avoid warping.
- lisper 4y ago
  > it's not really an experiment Of course it is. It's not a controlled experiment, but it's still an experiment. > 3 years to cool? That might have been a tad excessive, but waiting that long does remove any possibility that the observed behavior was due to residual heat.

88 points by acqbu 4y ago

dang 4y ago

Related: Pitch Drop Experiment - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=22255308 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=22255308 - Feb 2020 (30 comments) Pitch Drop Experiment - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=19529597 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=19529597 - March 2019 (12 comments) Pretty sure there have been other threads too, if anyone can find them.

kmoser 4y ago
I predict it'll be another 8-10 years before somebody posts this again.

isoprophlex 4y ago

It always struck me as slightly sad, and maybe even slightly poetic, that the guy starting the experiment died only months before the eight drop fell in 2014.

proactivesvcs 4y ago
"In 1988, with the experiment proudly displayed at Brisbane's World Expo, Prof Mainstone was fetching a drink when the seventh drop fell. By 2000, a video camera had been set up to capture drop number eight, but it malfunctioned at the crucial moment." Taken from https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-28402709 https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-28402709 I imagine he took this with the sort of humour that such a custodian would adopt for such an experiment!

smiley1437 4y ago

"In the 86 years that the pitch has been dripping, various glitches have prevented anyone from seeing a drop fall." You'd think there would be a backup camera or two by now

s_dev 4y ago
Other universities have caught it on camera. https://www.tcd.ie/news_events/articles/trinity-scientists-capture-pitch-drop-on-camera-for-first-time/ https://www.tcd.ie/news_events/articles/trinity-scientists-c...
LVB 4y ago
I just took a look at the feed (http://thetenthwatch.com/feed http://thetenthwatch.com/feed) and was amused that the time reference was a little Casio clock running a few minutes fast.

saalweachter 4y ago

I love how absolutely massive the drops are, as collected in the other beaker.

mjsweet 4y ago

My wife is an astrophysics lecturer at UQ. Whenever I take the kids around to visit her in her office, we often stop by to look at the pitch drop. I can't quite explain the experience of standing there for a few minutes willing the damn thing to drop. It's a quaint feeling of expectation, wilful wanting and wistful disappointment as you draw yourself away from the experiment... usually by a child pulling you by the hand to do more interesting things. While I'm standing here... is it going to drop? Strange feeling. Edited grammar.

cmehdy 4y ago
You could always tell your kids you're a live-streamer since you would be on camera: http://thetenthwatch.com/feed/ http://thetenthwatch.com/feed/

amelius 4y ago

How do they know the pitch is a homogeneous substance, and remains that way?

tony-allan 4y ago

Also information here (along with other interesting stuff)… https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/pitch-drop-experiment https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/pitch-drop-experiment

fsckboy 4y ago
that article hints that somebody did see a drip drop, it says it occurred during a beaker change and they extended the time for the next drop to 14 yrs out

stephen_g 4y ago

For a few semesters I used to walk past that most weeks to go to lectures, always had a look but the drop didn’t happen until a bit over a year after I graduated!

flobosg 4y ago

More long-term experiments: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Long-term_experiment https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Long-term_experiment My favorite is the LTEE: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/E._coli_long-term_evolution_experiment https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/E._coli_long-term_evolution_ex...

fsckboy 4y ago

> Thomas Parnell, UQ's first Professor of Physics, created the experiment in 1927 to illustrate that everyday materials can exhibit quite surprising properties...The experiment was set up as a demonstration and is not kept under special environmental conditions so in other words, it's not really an experiment. Still a nice demonstration, but I guess they're not measuring anything. And to all the people saying "set up a camera", sure, but that's not the same as seeing a drop fall. Be a nice demonstration to set up at home next to your bonsai tree (much earlier in life than I am able to currently) > In 1927 Professor Parnell heated a sample of pitch and poured it into a glass funnel with a sealed stem. He allowed the pitch to cool and settle for three years, and then in 1930 he cut the funnel's stem. 3 years to cool? is there any reason to think it didn't reach room temp much more quickly, like in a day? I know for telescope lenses they cool the glass very slowly, but that's externally imposed to avoid warping.

lisper 4y ago
> it's not really an experiment Of course it is. It's not a controlled experiment, but it's still an experiment. > 3 years to cool? That might have been a tad excessive, but waiting that long does remove any possibility that the observed behavior was due to residual heat.