World's Longest-Running Lab Experiment Is Almost 100 Yrs Old

Tuesday, January 20, 2026

Sometimes science can be painfully slow. Data comes in dribs and drabs, truth trickles, and veracity proves viscous. The world's longest-running lab experiment is an ongoing work in sheer scientific patience. It has been running continuously for nearly a century, under the close supervision of several custodians and many spectators -- and it's ever so slowly drip, drip, dripping away.

Posted by LampLighter at 11:08 PM | 2 COMMENTS | permalink | Comment on This Entry |

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... It all started in 1927, when physicist Thomas Parnell at the University of Queensland in Australia filled a closed funnel with the world's thickest known fluid: pitch, a derivative of tar that was once used to seal ships against the seas.

Three years later, in 1930, Parnell cut the funnel's stem, like a ribbon at an event, heralding the start of the Pitch Drop Experiment. From then on, the black substance began to flow.

At least, that is, in a manner of speaking. At room temperature pitch might look solid, but it is actually a fluid 100 billion times more viscous than water. ...

#1 | Posted by LampLighter at 2026-01-20 11:09 PM | Reply

Pitch Drop experiment
smp.uq.edu.au

... We're home to the famous Pitch Drop experiment, which holds the Guinness World Record for the longest-running laboratory experiment.

The experiment demonstrates the fluidity and high viscosity of pitch, a derivative of tar that is the world's thickest known fluid and was once used for waterproofing boats.

Thomas Parnell, UQ's first Professor of Physics, created the experiment in 1927 to illustrate that everyday materials can exhibit quite surprising properties.

At room temperature pitch feels solid - even brittle - and can easily be shattered with a hammer. But, in fact, at room temperature the substance -- which is 100 billion times more viscous than water -- is actually fluid. ...

#2 | Posted by LampLighter at 2026-01-20 11:14 PM | Reply