Longest continuous running lab experiment

Join the discussion
Registration is free. Ask a follow-up in this thread, or start your own.
15 replies · 3K views
wolram
Gold Member
Dearly Missed
Messages
4,411
Reaction score
551
What is the longest continuous running experiment , By continuous i mean some equipment is set up and left to run, not some thing like CERN where there has been periods of down time.
 
Physics news on Phys.org
Voyager space probes?
 
Possibly this one.

http://www.smp.uq.edu.au/pitch/

http://www.smp.uq.edu.au/pitch/

Started 1927.
 
Last edited by a moderator:
signerror said:
Possibly this one.

http://www.smp.uq.edu.au/pitch/

http://www.smp.uq.edu.au/pitch/

Started 1927.

Gads that is amazing i would not have given a thought to such an experiment, i guessed it would be some thing to do with time.
 
Last edited by a moderator:
How about the light bulb that's been burning for the past 108 years: a quasi-experiment?
http://www.centennialbulb.org/"
 
Last edited by a moderator:
Loren Booda said:
How about the light bulb that's been burning for the past 108 years: a quasi-experiment?
http://www.centennialbulb.org/"

Wow, that was my first thought, too :approve:! But I was way too busy this afternoon to post it.
 
Last edited by a moderator:
wolram said:
Gads that is amazing i would not have given a thought to such an experiment, i guessed it would be some thing to do with time.

This guy should do the Heinz ketchup commercials.
 
signerror said:
Possibly this one. Started 1927.

That is tenacity above and beyond the call of duty. At least he had time to go and get in a couple of rounds of golf between taking readings.
 
Brings new meaning to "watching molasses."
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boston_Molasses_Disaster"
 
Last edited by a moderator:
Then there is the Beverly clock, in the city with the most beautiful http://zamaitt.com/wagamama/nz/popular%20tours/img/dunedin%20railway%20station.jpg in the world, running since 1864, driven by temperature and pressure variation.

Also worth mentioning the Oxford Electric Bell.
 
Last edited by a moderator:
If I recall, some of the longest experiments are agricultural ones. There have been fields set up in the UK for decades to test the effects of nutrient depletion etc. This article states that one was started in 1843, and if it's the one I'm thinking of then it's still going.
 
The next largest prime number?
 
I heard on the radio that there was a town, I think in Western Europe, where a symphony is played out 1 note per year, i.e. 1 note drone for 365 days. I forget how long it's been going.

I've forgotten the crucial elements really.
 
Andre said:
Then there is the Beverly clock, in the city with the most beautiful http://zamaitt.com/wagamama/nz/popular%20tours/img/dunedin%20railway%20station.jpg in the world, running since 1864, driven by temperature and pressure variation.

Also worth mentioning the Oxford Electric Bell.

Nice one Andre.
 
Last edited by a moderator: