Most of us remember playing with cornstarch and water at some time during our schooling, but what happens when you take experimentation to the extreme? Well, these cool experiments of course. Continue reading to see them all.
1. Cornstarch Speaker Monster
For those that don’t already know, “corn starch is a shear thickening non-Newtonian fluid meaning that it becomes more viscous when it is disturbed; when it’s hit repeatedly by something like a speaker cone it forms weird tendrils.”
2. Non-Newtonian Pool
On this TV show “they filled a pool with a mix of cornstarch and water made on a concrete mixer truck — it becomes a non-newtonian fluid; when stress is applied to the liquid it exhibits properties of a solid.
3. Cornstarch Egg Protector
YouTube “arthurschwieger” user wanted to create a device that would be strong yet light enough to protect an egg. He found that “the egg is buoyant when in the non-Newtonian fluid that [he] created — [meaning] that the force would be distributed over 80% or so of the surface of the egg.”
4. Time Warp
Discovery’s Time Warp takes an in-depth look at several cornstarch experiments, including “walking on water”. Others include nailing something into a block of wood, speaker vibrations, and more.
5. Quicksand
Now that you’ve seen all the nifty experiments above, here’s how to make your very own quicksand. In other words, “a tutorial on how to make a shear thickening fluid, also known as a non-Newtonian and dilatant fluid; the mixture is made out of cornstarch and water.”
