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Pitch drop experiment

Since 1927

Longest-running laboratory experiment

Confirmed Lab experiments · Verified 2026-10-30 · WWV-SC-005

In 1927 physicist Thomas Parnell at the University of Queensland set up a funnel of pitch to show that this seemingly solid black material is really an extremely thick liquid. It drips about once every ten years or so. Nine drops have fallen since it began, the ninth in April 2014.

Pitch is roughly 100 billion times thicker than water. Check the university's page for any drop after April 2014.

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