Trinity College experiment succeeds after 69 years • Hacker News Board

Re: Trinity College experiment succeeds after 69 years

#21

Post by jgreen10 » Thu, Jul 18, 2013, 2:36 PM UTC

peterkelly wrote: post #9

I bet the grad student involved is celebrating now that they can finally submit their thesis

and all his colleagues will be jealous of him submitting so quickly.

Re: Trinity College experiment succeeds after 69 years

#22

Post by throwit1979 » Thu, Jul 18, 2013, 2:36 PM UTC

Um, not to take away from the achievement of the result, but couldn't this result have been obtained in much less time with higher force than 1G in, say, a centrifuge?

Re: Trinity College experiment succeeds after 69 years

#23

Post by berberous » Thu, Jul 18, 2013, 2:36 PM UTC

dalore wrote: post #6

duggieawesome wrote: post #3

It should be noted that this experiment is different than the Queensland experiment, which is still going on. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pitch_drop_experiment

How are they different? Both the article and the wikipedia link you gave mention they are similar experiments. It seems they are the same experiment to me.

Same experiment, but I for one was interested to know it was not the Queensland one, because that one has a great Radiolab episode about all the times they missed the drop (webcams failing, etc.). Their pitch is due to drop soon too, so it's sort of sad someone else beat them to finally filming it.

Re: Trinity College experiment succeeds after 69 years

#24

Post by [deleted] » Thu, Jul 18, 2013, 2:38 PM UTC

[deleted]

Re: Trinity College experiment succeeds after 69 years

#25

Post by mathattack » Thu, Jul 18, 2013, 2:38 PM UTC

There couldn't have been an easier way to test this?

Re: Trinity College experiment succeeds after 69 years

#26

Post by juice13 » Thu, Jul 18, 2013, 2:39 PM UTC

What's up with one sentance per paragraph? Feels like reading the simple wikipedia.

Re: Trinity College experiment succeeds after 69 years

#27

Post by Peroni » Thu, Jul 18, 2013, 2:39 PM UTC

I think (hope) it's worth noting the location of this experiment. Trinity College, and the Irish in general, tend to gravitate towards romanticised notions. Even our scientists.

It honestly wouldn't surprise me in the least if the experiment was initiated knowing full well it would take decades to complete but they went ahead anyway 'for the craic'.

Re: Trinity College experiment succeeds after 69 years

#28

Post by mef » Thu, Jul 18, 2013, 2:51 PM UTC

Peroni wrote: post #27

I think (hope) it's worth noting the location of this experiment. Trinity College, and the Irish in general, tend to gravitate towards romanticised notions. Even our scientists. It honestly wouldn't surprise me in the least if the experiment was initiated knowing full well it would take decades to complete but they went ahead anyway 'for the craic'.

"For the craic", the original "for the lulz" http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Craic

Re: Trinity College experiment succeeds after 69 years

#29

Post by adjustafresh » Thu, Jul 18, 2013, 2:55 PM UTC

Anyone else reminded of those old Heinz Ketchup ads...Anticipation https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uoLoyg3JKRQ

Re: Trinity College experiment succeeds after 69 years

#30

Post by rmc » Thu, Jul 18, 2013, 2:59 PM UTC

defective wrote: post #12

I think, after a few missed drops, that I might have added a backup camera.

Well it started in the 1940s. There weren't many webcam then, and video cameras (and tape) were expensive.