DRIP, DRIP, DRIP
Have you ever watched a tiny droplet of water just hanging on the end
a faucet and waited to see when the drop would fall? In a laboratory at
the University of Queensland in Australia, researchers have been doing
something a lot like that—for almost a hundred years.
In the world’s longest-running experiment, drops of tar pitch are
dripping from a beaker. Except pitch is so thick and sticky that it can
take 13 years for a single drop to drip off! Until then, it just hangs
there. Can you imagine watching anything more monotonous? Not
only that, but if you turn your head for a moment, you might miss it!
(This actually happened back in 1988.) OK, they do have video backup
now, and it’s even live-streaming online. Still, why would anyone do
an experiment like this?
It Sounds So Boring
Other experiments can seem monotonous too, which might explain
why some people think science itself is boring. But there’s another
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when poured, but it also shatters like glass when struck. If the patient
scientists in Queensland can unlock the secret of pitch, we might
by Nick D’Alto Matthew Billington
PLOP QUIZ
“Boring” science isn’t so bad... when you know this secret.
use it to develop incredible new
materials for construction, for
medicine, and even for the space
industry. And that’s the secret
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breakthroughs: tolerate something
boring so you can discover
something really exciting.Why This Contradiction?
Science experiments can take a
long time. Everything must be
measured carefully. Then the
experiment must be repeated, to
make sure it’s valid. Maybe this
sounds like lonely, repetitive work.
But without this careful approach,
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bacteria and climate change to
volcanoes and zoology might still
be undiscovered.
Are you ready to tolerate a
little boredom yourself—to maybe
discover something interesting?
Read about three “unexciting”
activities, and then decide what’s
really going on.Hands-
On