We had fun today experimenting with Oobleck. What an amazing mixture it is! We mixed cornflour, water and food colouring together. We discovered that Oobleck is a non-Newtonian fluid; it has properties of both a liquid and a solid! You can slowly dip your hand into it and it feels like a liquid, but if you squeeze it or punch it, it feels like it is solid. It is the change of pressure that causes the change of 'state'. Applying pressure to the mixture increase its viscosity (thickness). At the places you apply force, the cornstarch particles get mashed together, trapping water molecules between them, and the oobleck turns into a semi-solid object.
The word 'oobleck' comes from a story by Dr Suess called 'Bartholomew and the Oobleck'.
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