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The world's longest-running lab experiment

The Pitch Drop 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.

In 1927 Professor Parnell heated a sample of pitch and poured it into a glass funnel with a sealed stem. He allowed the pitch to cool and settle for three years, and then in 1930 he cut the funnel's stem.

Since then, the pitch has slowly dripped out of the funnel - so slowly that it took eight years for the first drop to fall, and more than 40 years for another five to follow.

Now, 87 years after the funnel was cut, only nine drops have fallen - the last drop fell in April 2014 and we expect the next one to fall sometime in the 2020s.

The experiment was set up as a demonstration and is not kept under special environmental conditions - it's kept in a display cabinet - so the rate of flow of the pitch varies with seasonal changes in temperature.

The late Professor John Mainstone became the experiment's second custodian in 1961. He looked after the experiment for 52 years but, like his predecessor Professor Parnell, he passed away before seeing a drop fall.

In the 86 years that the pitch has been dripping, various glitches have prevented anyone from seeing a drop fall.

- University of Queensland, Australia

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Top ten ways to become an Avatar

1. You kill someone.

2. You save someone.

3. You betray your people.

4. You let someone hurt you.

5. You make them hurt you.

6. You make them afraid.

7. You make them sad.

8. You make them angry.

9. You make them confused.

10. You make them scared.

#inspo #the vast #goals

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FOR LARRY WALTERS, WHO DREAMED SINCE HE WAS A CHILD OF USING BALLOONS TO FLY; WHO IN 1982 SPEND FOUR THOUSAND DOLLARS OF HIS TRUCK-DRIVING DELIVERYMAN SALARY TO BUY SUPPLIES, INCLUDING ONE LAWN CHAIR, FORTY-TWO BALLOONS, AND A HELIUM TANK, WHICH HE USED TO INFLATE THE BALLOONS, ARRANGING THEM IN A RING AROUND THE LAWN CHAIR, A STURDY ALUMINUM TYPE FROM SEARS, IN WHICH HE LAUNCHED HIMSELF ALONG WITH HIS PELLET GUN AND WATER JUGS A THOUSAND FEET A MINUTE INTO THE CALIFORNIA SKY, WITH THE GOAL OF CLEARING THE SAN GABRIEL MOUNTAINS TO REACH THE MOJAVE; WHO AGAINST ALL ODDS FLEW, FROM A BACKYARD IN SAN PEDRO TO LONG BEACH, AN IMPERFECT MAN ON AN IMPERFECT FLIGHT PATH, WHO BROUGHT HIS CAMERA BUT DIDN’T USE IT; WHO, UPON HIS ARREST BY THE LONG BEACH POLICE, WAS QUOTED AS SAYING A MAN CAN’T JUST SIT AROUND…..

FUCK YES LARRY YOU DID IT BABY

Amelia Gray - FOR LARRY

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bc he's annoying hope this helps

jonathan sims must die, a magnus archives meta podcast on how and why

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Disclaimer: I have a MLIS that included a few archives-specific classes, and I’ve interned at multiple archival and archival-adjacent institutions. However, I’ve never been formally employed as an archivist.

@geejaysmith​ if there’s any chance we might actually present things to each other you might want to skip this, otherwise it’ll be boring.

Keep reading

#magnus archive stop repressing the americans challenge #yeah ELIAS #DO YOUR FUCKING JOB #not a statement

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x

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#babies and friends #Warp #warped reality #keeping an eye out #the magnus institute #the usher foundation #not related to an active case #tma shitpost #rp/meme account #tma #the magnus archives

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*elias voice* look at me im just a stupid little buisness slut i sit in my office thinking about ways to be evil and then I open excel and i make the schedules and do taxes

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the eye's people are always so fucking pretentious

fuck archivists all my homies hate archivists

#the magnus institute #usher foundation #all tea all shade #fuck the eye all my homies hate the eye

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Astronaut readjusts to life back on Earth

> Don’t give him a baby for a while.

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transparent simon under cut if u want that too i guess

Keep reading

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What are the scariest shapes

PENTADECAHEDRON

FIFTEEN SIDES 

ZERO MERCY

BE ON THE LOOKOUT FOR THIS GUY

OH FUCK

PLEASE

#shapes with malice #because that's a tag now #not related to an active case #pentadecahedron #math #math but evil #Work Related #warp #the usher foundation #the magnus institute #rp/meme account #the magnus archives #tma

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new animal crossing characters!!! who do YOU want in your island?

#warp #technology #glitches #warped reality #wrong #keeping an eye out #not related to an active case #the usher foundation #the magnus institute #rp/meme account #tma #the magnus archives #animal crossing

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not to brag, but if I were Jon and I appeared in the dreams of all statement givers whenever I slept, I would DEFINITELY start wearing pajamas that said "this is all elias bouchard's fault and here's his address"

#tbh #i mean #yeah #Work Related #workplace related #if i were the head of the magnus institute i simply WOULD NOT be a douche #tw elias bouchard #the usher foundation #lmao the UK #making fun of the magnus institute #the magnus institute #not related to an active case #but also isn't it though #related to an active case: #ie all of them #the magnus archives #tma #rp/meme account

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#workplace related #yes this is a callout post for a coworker #you know who you are #not related to an active case #not work related #audio #the usher foundation #the magnus institute #rp/meme account #tma #the magnus archives