Oxford Electric Bell or Clarendon Dry Pile
The Bell has produced approximately 10 billion rings since 1840 and holds the Guinness World Record as "the world's most durable battery [delivering] ceaseless tintinnabulation".
There are others.
Will a pitch droplet refuse to detach while being observed? Just how long can it be held suspended due to observation? Are quantum effects involved?:-P
Sometimes, experiments are worth doing not because we don't know what the results of the experiment will be, but because young future scientists are constantly being born, and will learn from witnessing the experiment. For some, the fanfare around the latest drip will be the spark that lights a lifelong desire to pursue science. That alone makes it worthwhile.
This is the experiment that was actually used to determine the relative viscosity of pitch, and there are some other actual materials science findings that were produced from it... admittedly quite some time ago.
For one thing, how long we can continuously run an experiment.
I actually do think it is an interesting question - you need continuity of several things (broader social stability, specific organizational stability, a community of people interested enough to bother keeping it going) without any of the usual things that keep something going (profit motive, government edict, etc.)
But I like proof-by-doing sorts of things in general.
Will a pitch droplet refuse to detach while being observed? Just how long can it be held suspended due to observation? Are quantum effects involved? :-P
Sometimes, experiments are worth doing not because we don't know what the results of the experiment will be, but because young future scientists are constantly being born, and will learn from witnessing the experiment. For some, the fanfare around the latest drip will be the spark that lights a lifelong desire to pursue science. That alone makes it worthwhile.
Mostly it's a teaching tool/exhibit these days.
This is the experiment that was actually used to determine the relative viscosity of pitch, and there are some other actual materials science findings that were produced from it... admittedly quite some time ago.
I actually do think it is an interesting question - you need continuity of several things (broader social stability, specific organizational stability, a community of people interested enough to bother keeping it going) without any of the usual things that keep something going (profit motive, government edict, etc.)
But I like proof-by-doing sorts of things in general.