Is it a liquid or is it a solid? Who cares? It kept my kids busy for 2 hours!
It's actually called NON NEWTONIAN FLUID and it has some strange properties, like being able to walk on it, but if you stop moving, you'll sink into it.
After watching THIS VIDEO (which I mistakenly thought was an episode of Top Gear because it stars Richard Hammond), the kids wanted to make their own non newtonian fluid and experiment with it. They really wanted to fill up the bath tub or baby pool so they could walk on it. Sadly, we didn't have enough cornstarch for that, and ultimately they were happy to make a bowl full of the stuff.
The older two kids (11 and 13) made oobleck (a common non newtonian fluid) with two ingredients you probably already have: cornstarch and water.
The ratio is 2:1 and they put the water in the bowl first then added twice as much cornstarch as they did water. My kids made this all on their own and I just sat back and watched/filmed their fun.
Here's my son punching the bowl full of oobleck. You can see the stuff starting to crack and his hand isn't sinking into it.
Then he gently presses his finger into it....
and his finger sinks into the oobleck.
I had to try this out for myself. So here I am with a handful of it.
After holding it firmly then opening my hand, you can see how dry and hard it looks.
A few seconds later, it just melts away.
This stuff is so cool.
Here are a few videos showing just how fun it is to play with.
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