The experiment started in 1927 when a physics professor at Australia's Queensland University poured some molten tar into a stoppered glass funnel. Three years later, he removed the stopper, placed the funnel on a stand, and put the whole setup inside a glass bell jar. Slowly, the almost-solid tar began oozing down the funnel. Every nine or ten years the accumulating drop of tar drips down into a beaker below. The seventh drip happened in 1988. The eighth drip was expected to happen over Christmas in 1998, but the tar oozed more slowly than expected because the room had been air-conditioned, cooling it slightly and hardening the tar. According to the current physics professor at the University, the tar should keep dripping for another century at ever-increasing intervals. Drip number eight might have been witnessed on the internet: http://www.physics.uq.edu.au/pitchdrop/pitchdrop.shtml http://www.physics.uq.edu.au/media/drop.htm http://www.physics.uq.edu.au/media/drop_news_release.html