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-   -   6/4/2002: The pitch-drop experiment (http://cellar.org/showthread.php?t=1610)

Nothing But Net 06-04-2002 07:09 PM

Glass is also a 'liquid' with an even higher viscosity
 
There are very old windows in Europe where there is a visible 'thickening' at the bottom. A liquid indeed, but flowing ever so slowly!

jeni 06-04-2002 09:33 PM

so he lived for two of them. thanks for the info :) i'm what you might call "too lazy to look that shit up"

CharlieG 06-05-2002 06:42 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by sycamore
I wonder why it took 14 years for that 8th drop to fall, given that the other drops happened about 7-9 years apart.
Airconditioning!

I read an article somewhere on this - the pitch USED to flow faster during the summer, now it flows faster during the winter. The rate changed when the put in AC

Nic Name 06-05-2002 08:40 AM

and there's a link to that article posted (fourth preceding) by snubber ;)

xant 06-05-2002 09:59 AM

Undergraduates
 
Those who started this year will see only one drop as an undergraduate.

At least, most of them will . . .

Slight 06-05-2002 04:02 PM

I have an experiment like this, although it is not nearly as interesting. My earth sciences teacher in eight grade said that given infinite time, water could disolve anything. Now I doubt the authenticity of this statement since pure gold would never rust/deteriorate/dissolve. Anyway I never liked the fact that US Currency makes it through the wash. Seems like if paper disolves in water, dollar bills, which are paper money, should come apart in water. So I took a martenelli's bottle and filled it with water. I let is sit a couple days to degass. Then I put a $1 bill in and corked it. The water is now quite dirty but the bill is still intact. I know this is a crime but it is my money.

Nic Name 06-05-2002 04:34 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by NBN

Glass is also a 'liquid' with an even higher viscosity

There are very old windows in Europe where there is a visible 'thickening' at the bottom. A liquid indeed, but flowing ever so slowly!
debunked

Angelus 06-05-2002 07:19 PM

Quote:

debunked
Short version: If you look at the panes of glass in really old windows, you'll find that there are ones that are thicker at the top, thicker at the side, thicker at the bottom, etc. The variation in width comes from the imperfect manufacturing process, not from the supposed "fluid" properties of glass.

juju 06-06-2002 01:37 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by Angelus
Short version: If you look at the panes of glass in really old windows, you'll find that there are ones that are thicker at the top, thicker at the side, thicker at the bottom, etc. The variation in width comes from the imperfect manufacturing process, not from the supposed "fluid" properties of glass.
You are now my personal hero. Can we hire you part time to do this?

Angelus 06-06-2002 06:57 PM

Quote:

You are now my personal hero. Can we hire you part time to do this?
Well, I obviously didn't mean this post for you!

I meant it for lazy people like me who didn't want to wade through the other stuff on that page. You're clearly the exception to that.

classicman 01-06-2008 12:45 AM

So is it gonna drip anytime soon? Did we miss the last one?

Aliantha 01-06-2008 09:23 AM

you'd have at least another year or so to wait, but probably more since they put in aircon.

That uni happens to be the one my husband lectures at. I'll ask him tomorrow if he knows about it.

classicman 01-06-2008 11:01 AM

that'd be great, thanks. I was trying to see of there was a projected "drip date" but came up empty.

WyrdNyrd 01-07-2008 04:56 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Slight (Post 16436)
I have an experiment like this, although it is not nearly as interesting. My earth sciences teacher in eight grade said that given infinite time, water could disolve anything. Now I doubt the authenticity of this statement since pure gold would never rust/deteriorate/dissolve. Anyway I never liked the fact that US Currency makes it through the wash. Seems like if paper disolves in water, dollar bills, which are paper money, should come apart in water. So I took a martenelli's bottle and filled it with water. I let is sit a couple days to degass. Then I put a $1 bill in and corked it. The water is now quite dirty but the bill is still intact. I know this is a crime but it is my money.

Given enough time the experiment will work, but one problem exists. US currency, dollar bills, is not made from paper. They are made from cotton.

Aliantha 01-07-2008 05:37 PM

I asked Dazza if he's ever seen this experiment and he said he had, but that it was about the most boring one he'd ever seen. He doesn't know when the next drop is going to be. Apparently they have stopped working on trying to predict that sort of thing. He said that maybe some undergrad might take on he experiment down the track and try to work it out. He then went on to say that it might take a while for the student to get a mark for the paper though.


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