Posted on 07/22/2013 7:01:13 AM PDT by Red Badger
In 1927, a researcher at the University of Queensland in Australia began what’s widely recognized as the longest-running experiment ever, the so-called “pitch drop.” It’s a simple set up: fill a flask with tar pitch and let it ooze out the bottom to see how quickly it flows, and eventually it makes a proper drop that falls down about once every ten years or so. Tar pitch is a substance that appears to be solid, but in fact is actually a slowly flowing liquid. However, since the beginning of that experiment human eyes have never actually seen the pitch drop from the bottom of the flask the last time the Queensland experiment dropped, the webcam that was set up to see it failed at precisely the wrong moment.
Ah misprint. Very confusion.
They must mean 2x10^7 Pa s
More like 20,000,000 Pa S
its probably supposed to be 2 time 10 to the 7th power
2 x 10^7
This is yet another example of the phenomenon of media trust... If you KNOW the topic, you can see the media are clueless... which should make you suspect their level of understanding of anythign else they report
If you write software, and you read an article about it often it is is ridiculously lame. This is true if you are a roofer and you read an article about roofing, or a painter, or an engineer, etc. etc.
Thanks. I presume that’s Pascal-Seconds
So true.
I have no experience with Pa S so 1 Pa S or 2 billion Pa S means the same to me.
bowel movement
You’ve got that right! The incessant speculation about the speed of dropping of a royal spawn makes watching pitch drop all the more appealing. It only happens about every 10 years so I can ignore it for long periods.
What has the British royal spawn to do with the real world? Nothing, nothing and....NOTHING!
I have no doubt the author and his editor (if he has one) have no inkling how to use scientific notation.
I went to the site, it’s like that there too.
That’s correct.
I should have read all the comments first, as others had already posted what I did. Sorry for the redundancy.
Maybe if you eat a pound of cheese. :)
AGREE!!
What if someone walked by and accidently bumped the table?
LOL!!!
Like another language, it is indeed.
*One I cannot speak mind you ; } but our eldest does - fluently :)
Thank You Lord, for blessings without number.
Tatt
Anyone needing an experiment to know that pitch is not a solid and will flow is an idiot. Hence, a college did this.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.