Cornstarch Goo

Last Friday, I decided to resurrect a fun science project that we did a few months ago from Thomas' Tinker Crate.  This is one of those projects you could play with for hours, adults included!  It's simply cornstarch and water.  And what's fun about it is that it doesn't act like you think it would.  When we mixed the cornstarch and water it seemed like a thick liquid.  But then we tried pushing down on it with pressure and force, and found that it acted like a solid.  When we eased up on the pressure and force, our fingers sunk.  When you scoop it into a spoon or your fingers, it is in a solid form, but then it turns into a liquid and slides off whatever it's on.  The science behind it is explained by polymers.  The goo is a polymer which is a chain of molecules.  The way it was explained to us, was that the molecules in cornstarch are large, so when you apply pressure fast, the molecules don't have time to spread apart, but instead bond tighter together.  When pressure is applied softly, the molecules have time to spread apart.  And when you pick it up, the molecules tighten, but if you turn your hand upside down, it turns into liquid form as the molecules have a chance to spread apart again and stretch out.  Fascinating!  What's funny about our time playing with it, is that it didn't matter how long we had been playing with it, we continued to be amazed by it and kept saying, "Wow, look!  It's _____."

As seen in the video, besides being excited about the goo, the kids get excited about watching "I Love Lucy," a popular t.v. show from the 1950's.  Briant turned an episode on a few weeks ago from Netflix and they were hooked.  The weekend before playing with the goo, we saw the episode of Lucy in a commercial for a health tonic called "Vitameatavegamin."  We have laughed a lot as a family with other shows and movies, but I think that one took the cake!