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The 'world's slowest experiment,' going for nearly 100 years, is still endlessly fascinating

It takes nearly a decade for one drop of this liquid to fall.

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John Mainstone was the custodian of the Pitch Drop Experiment for 52 years.

Because we use water all the time, most of us have an intuitive sense of how long it takes a drop of water to form and fall. More viscous liquids, like oil or shampoo or honey, drop more slowly depending on how thick they are, which can vary depending on concentration, temperature and more. If you've ever tried pouring molasses, you know why it's used as a metaphor for something moving very slowly, but we can easily see a drop of any of those liquids form and fall in a matter of seconds.

But what about the most viscous substance in the world? How long does it take to form a falling drop? A few minutes? An hour? A day?

How about somewhere between 7 and 13 years?

pitch drop experiment, tar pitch, solid or liquid, physics, world's longest experimentPitch moves so slowly it can't be seen to be moving with the naked eye until it prepares to drop. Battery for size reference.John Mainstone/University of Queensland

The Pitch Drop Experiment began in 1927 with a scientist who had a hunch. Thomas Parnell, a physicist at the University of Queensland in Australia, believed that tar pitch, which appears to be a solid and shatters like glass when hit with a hammer at room temperature, is actually a liquid. So he set up an experiment that would become the longest-running—and the world's slowest—experiment on Earth to test his hypothesis.

Parnell poured molten pitch it into a funnel shaped container, then let it settle and cool for three years. That was just to get the experiment set up so it could begin. Then he opened a hole at the bottom of the funnel to see how long it would take for the pitch to ooze through it, form a droplet, and drop from its source.

It took eight years for the first drop to fall. Nine years for the second. Those were the only two drops Parnell was alive for before he passed away in 1948.

- YouTubewww.youtube.com

In total, there have been nine pitch drops in the University of Queensland experiment. The first seven drops fell between 7 and 9 years apart, but when air conditioning was added to the building after the seventh drop, the amount of time between drops increased significantly. The drops in 2000 and 2014 happened approximately 13 years after the preceding one. (The funnel is set up as a demonstration with no special environmental controls, so the seasons and conditions of the building can easily affect the flow of the pitch.)

The next drop is anticipated to fall sometime in the 2020s.

pitch drop experiment, tar pitch, solid or liquid, physics, world's longest experimentThe first seven drops fell around 8 years apart. Then the building got air conditioning and the intervals changed to around 13 years.RicHard-59

Though Parnell proved his hypothesis well before the first drop even fell, the experiment continued to help scientists study and measure the viscosity of tar pitch. The thickest liquid substance in the world, pitch is estimated to be 2 million times more viscous than honey and 20 billion times the viscosity of water. No wonder it takes so ridiculously long to drop.

One of the most interesting parts of the Pitch Drop Experiment is that in the no one has ever actually witnessed one of the drops falling at the Queensland site. The drops, ironically, happen rather quickly when they do finally happen, and every time there was some odd circumstance that kept anyone from seeing them take place.

The Queensland pitch drop funnel is no longer the only one in existence, however. In 2013, Trinity College in Dublin, Ireland, managed to capture its own pitch drop on camera. You can see how it looks as if nothing is happening right up until the final seconds when it falls.

- YouTubewww.youtube.com

Today, however, with the internet and modern technology, it's likely that many people will be able to witness the next drop when it happens. The University of Queensland has set up a livestream of the Pitch Drop Experiment, which you can access here, though watching the pitch move more slowly than the naked eye can detect is about as exciting as watching paint dry.

But one day, within a matter of seconds, it will drop, hopefully with some amount of predictability as to the approximate day at least. How many people are going to be watching a livestream for years, waiting for it to happen?

PoorJohn Mainstone was the custodian of the experiment for 52 years, from 1961 to 2013. Sadly, he never got to witness any of the five drops that took place during his tenure. Neither did Parnell himself with the two that took place while he was alive.

John Mainstone, pitch drop experiment, university of queensland, physicsJohn Mainstone, the second custodian of the Pitch Drop Experiment, with the funnel in 1990.John Mainstone, University of Queensland

Sometimes science is looks like an explosive chemical reaction and sometimes it's a long game of waiting and observing at the speed of nature. And when it comes to pitch dripping through a funnel, the speed of nature is about as slow as it gets.


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A lesser known, but moving story about Albert Einstein that has nothing to do with science

He was more than just a physics genius.

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The famous image of Einstein taken by photographer Arthur Sasse in 1951

These days, the name Albert Einstein is basically a synonym for “genius.”

Einstein’s theory of relativity is one of the cornerstones of modern physics and his predictions continue to be confirmed today, even over a hundred years later. That’s not to mention his famous E=mc2 equation and the nuclear weapons it eventually helped spawn (which Einstein came to deeply regret).

He could even be pretty wise at times. A note scrawled with a piece of advice — "A calm and modest life brings more happiness than the pursuit of success combined with constant restlessness." — recently sold for $1.56 million.

But there’s a different reason Einstein was amazing that many people might not realize: He was also a fervent civil rights activist.

Though his life ultimately came to be full of fame and fortune, Einstein wasn’t a stranger to prejudice.

Einstein was Jewish, living in Germany as Hitler rose to power. Einstein despaired over the Nazi’s anti-Semitism and became an outspoken critic of the Nazi party, which only drew more attacks against him. Major newspapers published attack pieces against him. His house was raided while he was away. He even appeared on a pamphlet list of the enemies of Nazi Germany. The caption below his picture read, “Not Yet Hanged.”

The harassment would ultimately prove to be too much. In 1933, Einstein abandoned his home and job at the Prussian Academy and sailed to the United States, stating: “I shall live in a land where political freedom, tolerance, and equality of all citizens reign.”

Though the United States proved to be a haven for Einstein for the rest of his life, he must have been disappointed to see his newly adopted country fail to live up to the promise of equality.

At the time, the United States was still deeply segregated and Jim Crow laws severely restricted the rights of black Americans. Even Princeton, the college that’d become Einstein’s workplace, wouldn’t admit black students. Einstein could see the parallels, and, just as he refused to be quiet in Germany, so too in the United States.

Over the next decades, Einstein would become a staunch defender and ally of both the civil rights movement and the men and women who fueled it.

When opera star Marian Anderson was denied a hotel room because of her skin color, Einstein opened his house to her. He worked with actor and singer Paul Robeson on the American Crusade Against Lynching and invited him to perform at Princeton when the singer was blacklisted. He publicly encouraged the NAACP and W.E B. Du Bois for years and appeared as a character witness when the federal government tried to indict the man.

civil rights, education, science, art, equality

Albert Einstein actively supported civil rights.

Photos Albert Einstein by Ferdinand Schmutzer and Marian Anderson by Carl Van Vechten/ both Wikimedia Commons.

In 1946, he published an essay for white readers about racial bias in Pageantmagazine, writing:

"Your ancestors dragged these black people from their homes by force; and in the white man’s quest for wealth and an easy life they have been ruthlessly suppressed and exploited, degraded into slavery. The modern prejudice against Negroes is the result of the desire to maintain this unworthy condition. …
I do not believe there is a way in which this deeply entrenched evil can be quickly healed. But until this goal is reached there is no greater satisfaction for a just and well-meaning person than the knowledge that he has devoted his best energies to the service of the good cause."

That same year, he gave a speech at Lincoln University calling racism was "a disease of white people." He also added, "I do not intend to be quiet about it."

Einstein was clearly one of the greatest minds of the 20th century. But perhaps what made him a truly special human being wasn’t just that he was smart, or that he was funny, or that he left behind a lot of great anecdotes (and notes for bellboys).

Perhaps it was that he used that magnificent brain of his to not just understand the world, but to try to make it more just, fair, and peaceful place.

This article originally appeared on 10.27.17

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Dear Mr. Trump: All 6 U.S. science Nobel Prize winners this year so far are immigrants.

At a time when anti-immigration rhetoric is at an all-time high, it's imperative we look at the bigger picture.

“I think the United States is what it is today largely because of open borders."

That comment comes from Scottish-born naturalized U.S. citizen Sir J. Fraser Stoddart. When he said this to The Hill, he'd just won the Nobel Prize for chemistry.

This statement was bold, especially in an election year where the topic of immigration has been a hot-button issue filled with troublesome rhetoric.

Stoddart had a good reason for the comment: All six American Nobel laureates in science announced so far this year are immigrants.

Every year, the Nobel Foundation awards this prestigious honor to the most innovative scientists, writers, researchers, and peace-builders around the world for their outstanding contributions in the world of physics, chemistry, physiology, medicine, literature, and peace.

All six science Nobel Prize winners from the U.S. Photos by (clockwise) Scott Olson/Getty Images; Trinity Hall, University of Cambridge/Getty Images; Scott Eisen/Getty Images; Kayana Szyymczak/AFP/Getty Images; Mickael Vis/AFP/Getty Images; Denise Applewhite/Princeton University/Getty Images.

Stoddart was recognized for his breakthrough research in creating new ways to energize and steer molecules that could revolutionize how we treat illnesses and help develop more powerful computers.

The Nobel Prize in physics was awarded to Duncan M. Haldane, who is British; David Thouless, also Scottish; and Michael Kosterlitz, who is originally from Aberdeen, Scotland, and was born to Jewish refugees who fled Hitler's Germany. Their theoretical discoveries of topological phase transitions and topological phases of matter could have a tremendous impact in electronics and computing.

Finally, Oliver Hart is from Britain, and Bengt Holmström is from Finland. Both are being recognized for their contributions to economics.

(On Oct. 13, 2016, the foundation also announced that beloved singer-songwriter Bob Dylan earned the coveted Nobel Prize for literature for "new poetic expressions within the great American song tradition." Not too shabby, America!)

This science lineup is a big deal, especially now.

At a time when Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump is taking an unapologetically tough stance on immigration by proposing "extreme vetting" (and promising to build a massive wall and deport undocumented immigrants who are already here), this award lineup speaks volumes about why we need inclusive immigration policies.

It proves we can greatly benefit from inviting immigrants into our country. It shows that when we abandon our fear of differences, we'll find that folks from other places have a lot to offer in terms of science, education, and technological advances.

These six winners are literally making the world a better place.

The Nobel Foundation Prize Award Ceremony in 2008. Image by Pascal Le Segretain/Getty Images.

As Stoddart pointed out to The Hill, America's incredible scientific progress can remain strong "as long as we don't enter an era where we turn our back on immigration."

These Nobel Prize winners make an excellent and irrefutable case for nurturing our immigration system.

“I think the resounding message that should go out all around the world is that science is global," Stoddart said.

It's imperative we look at the bigger picture instead of just focusing on the negative aspects of immigration. Many of our amazing and impressive scientific innovations are here because of immigration.

We can accomplish amazing things when we have no barriers — physical or otherwise.

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Hertha Marks Ayrton was a total badass. Google just honored her in an awesome way.

Never heard of Hertha Marks Ayrton? That's OK. Neither had I. But let me tell you why I'll definitely be remembering her.

Ayrton would have been 162 today, so Google decided to honor her with a Doodle designed by artist Lydia Nichols.

Image from Google.com

Ayrton was the first woman to present a scientific finding to the esteemed British Royal Society, way back in 1904.

A painting of Ayrton. Image from Mme. Darmesteter/Wikimedia Commons.

This is the same society that heard presenters like Charles Darwin and Michael Faraday (one of the great founders of modern electric knowledge).

Ayrton's work was "The Origin and Growth of Ripple-mark," which helped explain ripple marks, those weird lines on beaches.

Image from Margaret W. Carruthers/Flickr.

If that seems silly, this is no eighth-grade science experiment. Fluid dynamics is incredibly weird and difficult, but Ayrton was a powerhouse of math and physics knowledge. Her discovery helped us better understand how fluids like air and water move, which affects things from water delivery to electric turbine design.

This wasn't Ayrton's only contribution to science.

Image from A. Rintel/Wikimedia Commons.

At the turn of the century, a new form of lighting had hit Britain: the electric arc lamp. The lights were bright and dependable but also had a weird tendency to hiss when they were turned on.

Well, it was Ayrton who figured out what that noise was. In 1899, she presented a paper, "The Hissing of the Electric Arc," to Britain's Institute of Electrical Engineers. She explained that the noise was from craters forming in the lamp's carbon rods. Two days later, they elected her as their first female member.

Unfortunately, the scientific community sometimes tried to hold her back because of her gender.

In 1901, she wrote another paper about electric arcs and tried to present it to the Royal Society. But the society had a man present her work instead.

"An error that ascribes to a man what was actually the work of a woman has more lives than a cat," she once said — a quote that I think might resonate with a lot of other female scientists.

Nevertheless, Ayrton continued to make significant contributions to electrical engineering.

She was never one to let people hold her back because of her gender, though. She was a keen supporter of women's suffrage in England.

A suffrage meeting in England circa 1908. Image from The New York Times/Wikimedia Commons.

She took part in a lot of marches and demonstrations, was a member of the Women's Social and Political Union, and either founded or help lead many other suffrage societies. She also opened her home to women who had been jailed after demonstrations and hunger strikes.

She was also a prolific inventor, and her inventions saved lives in World War I.

Image from Ernest Brooks/Wikimedia Commons.

By the time she died, she had 26 different patents under her belt. In 1915, Ayrton invented a fan that saved soldiers from the poisonous gas weapons of World War I.

Over 100,000 fans were sent to the battlefield.

Hertha Marks Ayrton was an awesome engineer, mathematician, physicist, inventor, and proponent of women's suffrage.

It kind of sucks that more people haven’t heard of her and that we needed a Google Doodle to find out about her. But it's still pretty powerful to see a big, public reminder of the huge number of amazing women who have had an impact on our world.

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