The pitch drop experiment.

Pitch is the name for any of a number of highly viscous liquids which appear solid. Pitch can be made from petroleum products or plants. Petroleum-derived pitch is also called bitumen. Pitch produced from plants is also known as resin. Products made from plant resin are also known as rosin. Download high resolution version (1011x1486, 169 KB)Photo of the University of Queenslands Pitch Drop experiment. ... Download high resolution version (1011x1486, 169 KB)Photo of the University of Queenslands Pitch Drop experiment. ... The pitch drop experiment at the University of Queensland. ... Pumpjack pumping an oil well near Sarnia, Ontario Ignacy Łukasiewicz - inventor of the refining of kerosene from crude oil. ... Bitumen Bitumen is a category of organic liquids that are highly viscous, black, sticky and wholly soluble in carbon disulfide, mostly made up of highly condensed polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons. ... Resin of a pine Insect trapped in resin. ... A 20 g cake of amber violin bow rosin. ...

Tar pitch appears solid, and can be shattered with a hard impact, but it is actually fluid. Pitch flows at room temperature, but extremely slowly. The pitch drop experiment taking place at University of Queensland is a long-term experiment which measures the flow of a piece of pitch over many years. For the experiment, pitch was put in a glass container with a hole in the bottom, and allowed to slowly drip out. Since the pitch was allowed to start dripping in 1930, only eight drops, albeit large ones, have fallen. Despite the fact that the experiment is taking place where weather conditions can affect it, it was demonstrated in the 1980's that the pitch in the experiment has a viscosity approximately 100 billion (10¹¹) times that of water. The pitch drop experiment at the University of Queensland. ... The University of Queensland (UQ) has its main campus in Brisbane, Queensland, Australia, specifically in the suburb of St Lucia. ... 1930 (MCMXXX) was a common year starting on Wednesday (link is to a full 1930 calendar). ... One thousand million (1,000,000,000) is the natural number following 999,999,999 and preceding 1,000,000,001. ...

Pitch was traditionally used to help caulk the seams of wooden sailing vessels (see shipbuilding). It was heated, then put into a container with a very long spout. The word pitcher is said to derive from this long spouted container used to pour hot pitch. Men from Francisco de Orellanas expedition building a small brigantine, the San Pedro, to be used in the search for food Shipbuilding is the construction of ships. ... Ewer (reverse, middle) as cult instrument, in this coin celebrating the pietas of the Roman Emperor Herennius Etruscus. ...

Production

The heating (dry distilling) of wood causes tar and pitch to drip away from the wood and leave behind charcoal. Birchbark is used to make particularly fine tar. Tar and pitch are often used interchangeably. However, pitch is considered more solid while tar is more liquid. Dry distillation is the heating of solid materials to produce liquid or gaseous products (which may condense into solids). ... Tar is a viscous black liquid derived from the destructive distillation of organic matter. ... Charcoal is the blackish residue consisting of impure carbon obtained by removing water and other volatile constituents from animal and vegetation substances. ...

External links

• The Pitch Drop Experiment

• Pine Tar Production

• Primitive tar and charcoal production

See also

• Tar