The Pitch Drops
The wind up … the wind up … the wind up … the wiiiiiiiiiiiind uuuuuuuup… and finally the pitch!
After 69 years of trying, Trinity College Dublin has recorded a falling drop of pitch on camera! The big moment happened around 5 PM on July 11. Pitch is a resin-like substance that is essentially asphalt as made by plants. At room temperature, it’s indistinguishable from a solid. It will even shatter if struck with a hammer.
But it’s not a solid. It’s more like a very, very, very slow liquid. The technical term for it is “viscoelastic polymer" and it’s about 20 billion times more viscous than water. Allow gravity to act on it for years and years, and sure enough it will flow and drip!
The problem is that no one has ever seen it drip, until now. An older, more famous version of this experiment is ongoing at University of Queensland (including a nap-inducing live cam of the drop that is allegedly going to drop some time in 2013). Now, Trinity College has captured the blobby moment!
They’ll be picking apart the video for some time, analyzing the forces at play, but I bet they’re just celebrating in Dublin today. Ain’t no party like a pitch drop party cuz a pitch drop party don’t stop.
Learn more about this sort of slow science from Radiolab.
(video via NatureNews)
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jtotheizzoe: The Pitch Drops The wind up … the wind up … the...
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