December 15, 2006

Yay cornstarch! Spanish TV show El Hormiguero fills a pool with a cornstarch-water slurry (also known as "oobleck" — make your own) and has fun with it. Previous weird cornstarchy goodness here.

via stumbleupon

posted by pmdboi 17 years ago
  • That is cool.
  • We made a bunch of green oobleck for a film that I produced and had a small role in. In the story, my character was transported into a dumpster, naked, coated with the goo. I have nothing more to say about this topic.
  • Hey, a kid showed off a pool of this on Letterman last night! Fun. hey, squid!
  • They looked like they were having an absurd amount of fun in that video. *waves to squidranch, tries to erase mental image of naked goo-covered squid in a dumpster*
  • How to thicken a stew with cornstarch: 1) Take stew out of oven. Place on hob, simmering on low heat 2) Break out the cornstarch. Add a leetle bit of cold water. 3) Goof around with non-newtonian properties of cornstarch. 4) See! Slooowly goooopy, quickly brittle 5) Look - I can pick it up with my fingers - keep it moving now... 6) ...and dribble. Neato. 7) The stew has now had enough time to thicken. Or, it will have by the time you've cleared up the mess.
  • Apparently you can blow fireballs with cornstarch too. Will wonders never cease?
  • I saw this a while ago, and tried it out on a smaller scale. I mixed up a big-mixing-bowl's worth of the stuff, and my daughter and I had great fun alternately punching it (it behaved like a rubbery solid) and then slowly dipping our fingers in and stirring it. Weird...
  • Make your own Cornstarch Bioplastic 1. Place a tablespoon of cornstarch into a plastic Ziploc bag. 2. Add two drops of corn oil to the cornstarch. 3. Add one tablespoon of water to the oil and cornstarch. 4. Mix the cornstarch, corn oil, and water in the plastic bag by rubbing the outside of the bag with your fingers. 5. Add two drops of your favorite food coloring and mix again. 6. Place the bag in a microwave oven on HIGH for 20-25 seconds. DO NOT completely seal the bag (it might explode). Be careful, it’s hot!! You can keep it oft in the sealed bag or mold it and let it harden.
  • That video is exhilarating! That science is awesome! This post is brilliant!
  • That was fun.... including the related videos on YouTube. It's great looking at something that apparently defies physics once in a while.
  • British show Brainiac did the same with custard. The show itself isn't on Youtube, but here it is live.
  • I made cornstarch slime one Saturday with my then-six-year-old son about a year back, little realizing at the time the insane amounts of cornstarch I would be called upon to purchase in the future as a result. It's his favorite toy ever. He seems to have forgotten it for the moment, being all into Bionicles for now, but all I would have to do would be mention "slime" and boom, there goes our box of cornstarch. On the upside, he loves science now.
  • MonkeyFilter: transported into a dumpster, naked, coated with the goo. Caution: Wet Tagline