The Nature of Glass Remains Anything but Clear

Radio interview with Dr Ben Powell discussing the physics of glasses. Images of the University of Queensland (UQ) pitch drop experiment, discussed in the interview and some pitch that has been smashed with a hammer.

Category:

Science & Technology

Tags:

• Physics
• Glass
• Glasses
• Pitch
• Drop
• Experiment

[lochdhu]

I think i saw it move.

[TsukiRockerBoy]

@lochdhu Penis

[95Megumi]

@lochdhu it's an image... it wasn't recorded as a moving video..... you wouldn't see it move anyway

[clemstevenson]

Note the Duracell battery at bottom-left. What happens if you reverse the polarity?

[Delishful]

@cagedanimal3 The sooner it is started the better :)

[cagedanimal3]

@Delishful : dude wed have 2 have someone take pics from when they were born till theyre about... 90

XD

[Delishful]

@hyunchoi98 Would be nice if someone took timelapse pics so that we could all witness it progressing for the first time in history. Although it wouldn't be firsthand it would be a cool documentation of it to have.

[hyunchoi98]

@Delishful no one has ever witnessed it drop i think.

but there is a webcam set up.

[jamesdc60]

So basically what we are saying here, is that liquid and solid, is a matter of time perception? That heat just speeds things up and that without the human element of observation during a certain amount of time, glasses are just extremely slow moving liquids?  WICKED!!! Its wild to think about, that everything we make out of glass could, in theory, eventually end up as a puddle. I wonder what else that could apply to...

[Delishful]

Is anybody taking timelapse pics of the pitch so that a drop can be watched in fastforward motion?