Nature of solids and liquids explored through new pitch drop experiment

Science Focus

original post »

Physicists at Queen Mary University of London have set up a new pitch drop experiment for students to explore the difference between solid and liquids. Known as the ‘world’s longest experiment’, the set up at the University of Queensland was famous for taking ten years for a drop of pitch – a thick, black, sticky material – to fall from a funnel. The movie clip shows the bitumen flow from the top camera view, and corresponds to approximately 24 days of real time. Credit: Queen Mary University of London   Publishing in the journal Physics Education, the design of QMUL’s trial is different to both well-known pitch drop experiments*. It uses different bitumen (the pitch), which is 30 times less viscous than the Queensland experiment, so that the flow can be seen quicker. The team have installed not one but five different glass tubes with varying diameters to give five speeds of flow, and set up web cameras to catch the drop in action. “We’re using the pitch drop experiment to inspire our students and make them question the fundamental nature between solids and liquids,” said Kostya Trachenko, lead author and Reader at QMUL’s School of Physics and Astronomy. “Because our experimental set-up

The post Nature of solids and liquids explored through new pitch drop experiment has been published on Technology Org.

Similar news or articles:

1. The pitch drops that got the world talking

 
#physics 
 » see original post http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/TechnologyOrgPhysicsNews/~3/g0FaeVhs5kw/
See Zazzle gifts tagged with 'science'