Don't vacillate

[The Pitch Drop Experiment, Queensland, 1927–]

In 1927, a physicist filled a closed funnel
with the world's thickest known fluid:
pitch, a derivative of tar
that was once used to seal ships against the seas.

Three years later, he cut opened the stem,
like a ribbon at an event,
and the black substance began to flow.

At room temperature, pitch might look solid—
but it is a fluid
100 billion times more viscous than water.

Eight years for the first droplet
to finally hit the beaker below.
Only nine drops in total have seeped out.
No one has ever seen witnessed a droplet fall directly,
despite all the watchful eyes.

Both custodians keepers died
without ever seeing a droplet fall
with their own two eyes.

The world's longest-running lab experiment
has barely begun.

The funnel is still full.