The Pitch Drop Experiment and the Ninth Watch

Described as 'watching paint dry but much, much slower', UQ's Pitch Drop Experiment has a Guinness World Record for the world's longest running laboratory experiment. In 1927, Professor Thomas Parnell decided to demonstrate that pitch, a derivative of coal tar or wood tar, has both solid and liquid properties. At a speed slower than continental drift, only eight drops of pitch have formed and fallen at UQ - and no-one has even seen one fall*. The ninth drop is forming and the watch is on! If you're online when it falls, your name will be recorded for posterity. Join the watch at http://www.theninthwatch.com The experiment's third custodian, Professor Andrew White, reveals the technology, the mystery and the fascination of slow science. * The first drop of pitch recorded on film was at Trinity College Dublin on 11 July, 2013. Their experiment is younger as it started in 1944. You can watch the historic moment here: http://www.tcd.ie/Physics/tar-experiment/