In 1927, Professor Thomas Parnell at the University of Queensland initiated an experiment to prove that pitch—a petroleum derivative that feels completely solid and shatters like glass when hit with a hammer—is actually a fluid at room temperature. He heated a sample of black pitch, poured it into a sealed glass funnel, and allowed it to settle for three full years before cutting the funnel's stem in 1930. Since then, the pitch has been dripping at an excruciatingly slow rate, taking roughly a decade for a single drop to form and fall.
The experiment demonstrates the extreme viscosity of pitch, calculated to be roughly 230 billion times more viscous than water. Interestingly, ambient temperature fluctuations and the absence of air conditioning in the early decades heavily influenced the drop rates, which slowed down after air conditioning was installed in the building in 1980. The tragedy of the experiment lies in its timing: no human eye has ever witnessed a drop actually fall in real time.
Professor John Mainstone, who custodianed the experiment for over 50 years, missed every single drop due to power outages, missed shifts, or brief coffee breaks. Even when a webcam was finally set up to record the eighth drop in 2000, a technical glitch prevented the footage from capturing the crucial moment. Despite this, the Pitch Drop Experiment remains a legendary showcase of long-term scientific patience and fluid mechanics, earning an Ig Nobel Prize in Physics in 2005.