Oobleck, a non-Newtonian fluid made up of water and cornstarch, is a perennial Internet favorite for its ability to dance and the fact that one can run across a pool Keep reading
Tag: oobleck
When Fluids Behave Like Solids
Many common fluids–like air and water–are Newtonian fluids, meaning that stress in the fluid is linearly proportional to the rate at which the fluid is deformed. Viscosity is the constant Keep reading
Microgravity Cornstarch
We’ve seen the effects of vibration on shear-thickening non-Newtonian fluids here on Earth before in the form of “oobleck fingers” and “cornstarch monsters”, but, to my knowledge, this is the Keep reading
Fixing Potholes with Oobleck
Shear-thickening non-Newtonian fluids like oobleck become more viscous as force is applied to them. This behavior causes them to form finger-like structures when vibrated, makes it good liquid armor, and even enables Keep reading
Shear-Thickening Oobleck
Oobleck is a commonly utilized fluid in demonstrations of non-Newtonian behavior. Rather than being linearly viscous with respect to shear, oobleck is shear thickening, meaning that it becomes more viscous Keep reading
Cornstarch Monsters
[original media no longer available] Shaking a fluid surface often results in standing waves known as Faraday waves, but with a non-Newtonian fluid like oobleck, at some frequencies it’s possible Keep reading
DIY Non-Newtonian Fluids
[original media no longer available] We’ve featured the non-Newtonian fluid oobleck here before, but it bears repeating as a fun and easy exercise for anyone to do at home or Keep reading
Mythbusters Walking on “Water”
The Mythbusters walk on “water” using non-Newtonian fluids. I think everyone wants to do this at least once in their life.
Cornstarch Monsters
The patterns formed when vibrating a liquid on a speaker cone are standing waves known as Faraday waves. With a large enough amplitude, this produces some very cool effects with Keep reading
Dr. Seussian Mystery Fluid Could Have Saved Top Kill
Dr. Seussian Mystery Fluid Could Have Saved Top Kill Wired article about using non-Newtonian fluids to plug leaking oil wells as we featured previously.