We have got to try this
I don’t think I ever posted about the "science share" at D’s school in the spring. He really wanted to participate, so we looked in our kid science books for something easy, and decided to bring in a big bowl of oobleck, which is just cornstarch suspended in water. It’s got some really weird properties — if you apply pressure to it, it acts like a solid, but if you just hold it in your hand, it acts like a liquid.
As it turns out, it was a huge hit. Pretty much every kid who walked by wanted to feel it, and half the adults were asking us "what is that stuff?" It was pretty chaotic, because between trying to watch N, stop kids getting oobleck all over the place, and racing to the bathrooms for more paper towels, we clearly needed at least one more adult than we had. But it was also a ton of fun.
Today, gizmodo had a link to a video of what happens when you mix oobleck, a metal pan, and a loud subwoofer. We have got to try this.
July 12th, 2008 at 4:57 pm
Oh, my word! So do we!
July 13th, 2008 at 11:07 am
The Bee has made oobleck several times at the science camp that she goes to. It’s cool stuff. Kind of wish it wouldn’t come home after, but that’s what goes along with getting kids interested in science, I suppose.