A Hodgepodge of Rheology and Polymer Matters

• Watching the Pitch Drop Demonstration can be likened to watching grass grow. But thanks to time-lapse photography, we can enjoy a nearly a year's worth of time in just 10 seconds. Even with that level of time compression, the movement is still almost imperceptible. Be sure to click on the link and check out the video.
• Why is there a ketchup bottle near the end of this slide deck? I sure hope the author isn't making that dreadful comparison of thixotropy and/or shear-thinning in ketchup to the crude oil he was studying. As I discussed in the not-too-distant past, neither of those non-Newtonian characteristics dominates the rheology of ketchup.
• It is widely known that the recently-deceased, former Prime Minister of England, Maggie Thatcher was a chemist by training. Nicknamed "The Iron Lady", I would have thought she was an inorganic chemist, but I found out yesterday that she was in fact a polymer chemist who worked on developing "an adhesive to stick PVC to wood and metal". She only "stuck" (GRIN) to the task for a few years before going to law school and then entering politics.
• I added The Polymer Innovation Blog to the blog roll. Written by Jeff Gotro, he has authoritative articles on a wide range of polymeric subjects, with new articles appearing every Monday. I also deleted from the list any blogs that hadn't been updated in a year.