This may be the longest running science experiment in history. It was started in 1927 and they've been waiting to see it fall all this time.

http://smp.uq.edu.au/content/pitch-drop-experiment

Suspense just isn't a strong enough word.

Really? No one is interested in the drop of pitch? They've been waiting over 80 years to see this thing fall. Something that will take only a fraction of a second.

Well, y'know a meteor just blew up on camera so I'm guessing people are thinking the pitch can wait. YouTube ready though! Thank you for the update.

I guess it's the geek in me. I love this kind of thing. I check it several times a day.

It's the geek in each of us that gives the world hope.

I suppose you're right. After all, it wasn't the macho hunters that discovered how to make fire. It was the geek in the back of the cave that liked banging rocks together.

It is kept at a certain temperature. Is it hot or cold?

Its like an asphalt or was it one of the ingredients in making asphalt?

It's at room temperature. Pitch is very interesting stuff. If you hit it with a hammer, it would shatter into a million pieces. But, if you let it sit, it'll flatten out like a puddle of water. But, it takes a very long time to flatten out. Long as in hundreds of years.

People used to use it to to seal the roofs of houses.

Can you really label it as liquid? It didnt flow freely.

It's a viscoelastic polymer. Generally thought of as solid, while tar is thought of as more liquid. But, pitch flows, just very, very slowly.

It is kept in a room yet its also enclose in a bottle. No air around it so the sorrounding must be warm.. That is why maybe the pitch melt on its own. Am i correct? Viscoelastic polymer some kind of rubber? Polymer is a malleable type of plastic right?

Wow, you're asking really good questions.

The jar is just a cover so no one bumps into it. It's not air tight. It's indoors so the green house effect is minimal. It could be heated up and melted. That's how they git it into the funnel back in 1927. No one is really sure exactly what it is. That's why so many people are watching it. It's not really a liquid, but it's not solid either. There's a great deal of curiosity about exactly how the drops form, how many strands can it have before it becomes imperative to drop?

Are the cameras microscopic that they can see the substance? I love science esp chemistry

There are three cameras on it now. I'm sure they're doing everything they can to catch every detail. It's dropped 8 times in the past and every time they've missed it. There's one man that's been watching it for 50 years and he's missed it three times. The first one happened on his day off. The second because he stepped out for a cup of tea. He estimates he missed by less than 15 minutes then. The other time because the camera malfunctioned.

Well nowadays is purely technology. Why did they use the longest method anyway. There are some alternative in which they can also see it fall if they want and can estimate the exact time,day,month and years when its gonna fall. Why do they not try to increase the temperature. The increase of tempereture is also equal to a # of days because if it take years to fall meaning the temp isvin its normal range so maybe it needs higher temp to melt the substance.

Well nowadays is purely technology. Why did they use the longest method anyway. There are some alternative in which they can also see it fall if they want and can estimate the exact time,day,month and years when its gonna fall. Why do they not try to increase the temperature. The increase of tempereture is also equal to a # of days because if it take years to fall meaning the temp isvin its normal range so maybe it needs higher temp to melt the substance.

Substances like this really bend our definitions of solid and liquid out of shape.

Its good for the intellect to challenge our understanding of our labels. Even ones less murky.

Heating it would change it's structure too much. It would drop to fast to be really seen. They know it will drop once every 8 to 12 years, but that's about as close as they are able to estimate. They also know it's about due now. I assume, once they are able to observe it they be able to give a better estimate.

Do these help the community anyway? I know from raw substance it has many usage.