Sunday, November 12, 2006

Super Soup?

A pool filled with non-newtonian fluid

Any of you physics geeks out there have a good explanation for this stuff? Is this really just corn starch and water, or is something else going on here?

Found at http://www.reddit.com

posted by Mr. Completely @ 9:13 AM   3 comments

3 Comments:

At Sunday, November 12, 2006 10:32:00 AM, Blogger Rivrdog said...

The fluid forms a membrane on it's surface. This is apparent when the immersed guy held up his arms and you saw all the stringy goo hanging off of him.

More than likely, the carpet that they are standing on barefoot is impregnated with some substance that sticks to their feet and prohibits the membrane from sticking to them as they run, but if you just stand there, you slowly overcome the tensile strength of the membrane. Notice how slowly the guy in the white shirt sank into the tank of fluid.

 
At Sunday, November 12, 2006 2:19:00 PM, Blogger carnaby said...

Nope, just looks like good ol' corn starch and water. There's no membrane, I don't think. Mix up a bowl of the stuff and you will see. When you put pressure on it it turns into a chalky sort of solid, and when you release the pressure, it turns into a fluid again. I think it's called a colloidal suspension, or some such thing.

My aunt made a half million bucks off marketing that stuff with color added and calling it "GUK."

 
At Monday, November 13, 2006 12:23:00 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

Yep ... cornstarch is just strange that way.

You can also use it to temporarily dam a stream ... just pour it in. It will cause the stream to back up ... for a while.

 

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