Research Ireland Centre for Advanced Materials and BioEngineering Research
Follow
A National Pitch Tar Drop shared learning day took place in AMBER, Trinity College Dublin on 27th March 2025 hosted by the School of Physics, Trinity College Dublin and AMBER. Over 100 secondary school students who participated in the All Island Pitch Tar Drop Experiment attended the event showcasing scientific posters demonstrating the observations and outcomes of their own pitch tar experiments in the schools. The day included talks from: Professor Louise Bradley, Chair of Physics 300 and scientific experiment displays and interactions. Coordinated by AMBER’s Education and Public Engagement Manager Mairead Holden.
Images Credit: Kseniia Mamaeva
Poster Display by Schools Participating in the All Island Pitch Tar Drop Experiment
| Schools |
| De La Salle College Waterford |
| Castleknock Community College Dublin |
| Tullamore Community College Offaly |
| St David’s Holy Faith Wicklow |
| St Mary’s College Kildare |
| St Oliver’s CC Louth |
| St John the Baptist’s College Armagh |
| Wesley College Dublin |
| Colaiste Mhuire Westmeath |
| St Louis Secondary School Monaghan |
| Colaiste Mhuire Johnstown Kilkenny |
| Carndonagh Community School Donegal |
| Santa Sabina Dublin |
| Summerhill College Sligo |
| St Joseph’s Secondary School, Spanish Point Clare |
| Loreto Secondary School Balbriggan Dublin |
| St Vincent’s Secondary School Louth |
About the Pitch Tar Drop
The Pitch Tar Drop demonstration in the School of Physics, Trinity College Dublin began in October 1944, beginning what is now an 80 year continuously running demonstration. While appearing solid at room temperature, the pitch tar flows very slowly with a drop falling from the end of the funnel approximately once in a decade. The most recent drop fell unobserved in 2024. It will be another decade before the demonstration will drip again so the School of Physics, Trinity College Dublin as part of their 2024 Tercentenary Celebrations and in Association with AMBER Centre and the Institute of Physics are hosting an All-Island Pitch Tar Drop Event.
Schools across Ireland will participate in the experiment in which they have been provided with a kit that uses a specially developed pitch tar, which has a lower viscosity than the Trinity demonstration, so we won’t have to wait 10 years. In this national experiment students will see seemingly solid materials flow, be able to measure the formation of the drop, calculate the viscosity and perhaps even capture that special moment when the drop falls. The participants will be part of history!
Hosted by Louise Bradley, physicist and Professor in TCD, the launch took place on Wednesday 27th November 2024. Stefan Hutzler who in 2013 alongside Shane Bergin captured a drop falling in Trinity College Dublin, becoming the first to record this rare moment. The time-lapse video attracted global media attention at the time with Discover Magazine naming the Trinity Pitch Drop in their top 100 science stories of 2013 and a feature article in Nature News the 3rd most-read piece on their website in 2013. In recognition of its global fame the pitch tar demonstration had been on display in the Eavan Boland Library since 2014 but returned to its permanent home in the School of Physics in time for the tercentenary.
Full details available on the official webpage here
AMBER has a strong emphasis on collaboration. Central to AMBER’s research remit are collaborative projects performed with industry partners, and working with academic, industry and wider stakeholder on international and national research programmes.
Get in touch