Oozing Oobleck

Chemistry is all around us every day! In this activity, your child will think like a chemist; observing chemical reactions, creating hypotheses, and drawing conclusions about our chemical experiments. After all, chemistry happens anytime we mix two or more things together to get something new.

Let’s Begin!

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Materials

  • 1 cup of water

  • 1 cup of cornstarch

  • 3 drops of food coloring

Directions

  1. Measure out 1 cup of cornstarch and dump it into a large bowl.

  2. Add food coloring to one cup of water

  3. Slowly add the colored water to the cornstarch.

  4. Mix first with a spoon and then knead with your hands until fully incorporated.

Examining the Experiment: The Secret of Oobleck

Oobleck falls into super special category of materials called a non-Newtonian fluid. This means that unlike most materials in the world, it does not obey normal laws of physics! Oobleck falls into this category because it acts like a liquid when it oozes, and a solid when you squish it!

Things to Try

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  1. What is the effect of using warm vs cold water? Does one make a more solid oobleck and the other a more liquid oobleck?

  2. What happens when you drop oobleck? Does it splat or bounce? Does the height at which you drop it change its performance?

  3. For a special Halloween effect, try using tonic water instead of tap water. Tonic water contains a chemical that makes it fluorescent under a black light.

Natasha Chlebuch