Pitch (resin)

Pitch is the name for any of a number of highly viscous liquids which appears solid. Pitch can be made from petroleum products or plants. Petroleum-derived pitch is also called bitumen. Pitch produced from plants is also known as resin. Products made from plant resin are also known as rosin.

Related Topics:
Viscous - Petroleum - Bitumen - Resin - Rosin

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Tar pitch appears solid, and can be shattered with a hard impact, but it is actually a liquid. Pitch flows at room temperature, but extremely slowly. The pitch drop experiment taking place at University of Queensland is a long-term experiment which measures the flow of a piece of pitch over many years. For the experiment, pitch was put in a glass container with a hole in the bottom, and allowed to slowly drip out. Since the pitch was allowed to start dripping in 1930, only eight drops have fallen out, demonstrating that pitch has a viscosity approximately 100 billion (1011) times that of water.

Related Topics:
Pitch drop experiment - University of Queensland - 1930 - Billion

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Pitch was traditionally used to help caulk the seams of wooden sailing vessels (see shipbuilding). It was heated, then put into a container with a very long spout. The word pitcher is said to derive from this long spouted container used to pour hot pitch.

Related Topics:
Shipbuilding - Pitcher

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~