Getting our Gloop On

It’s been a while since I did a real science experiment with the  kids. With Dr. Seuss’s recent birthday, I found an article about how to make oobleck.

It looked awesome so I bought an extra box of generic corn starch. To make oobleck (a.k.a. gloop) is simple.

2 parts water

3 parts corn starch

food coloring

I used 1/2 cup water to 3/4 cup corn starch for each of the three bowls, but f0und I had to sprinkle more a few more teaspoons of  cornstarch before it was gloopy enough.

Once it’s mixed, it’s both liquid and solid, depending upon how much pressure is applied.  It is fascinating!  If you poke it quickly, it is solid and your finger bounces off it.  If you poke it slowly, you finger sinks to the bottom.  If you roll it between your hands, it is as hard as a ball.  If you stop for a second, it immediately liquefies and runs off  your hands.   The girls—and their mother—played with it for about an hour. It get’s really fun when you take a spoonful of your sister’s gloop and pour it on top of yours! (Oddly, Wes didn’t like it much.)  While the clean up is actually pretty easy, I would still wait for a warm day and do this outside next time.)

 

Here’s the science behind it.  But do it because it’s fun and brings out your inner child and your outer child in.  (I wish that made sense, but brilliant writing doesn’t always.  Just ask James Joyce.)