Help! Quicksand!!!

We did some great work today exploring states of matter . We looked at Oobleck, a mixture of starch and water that's actually kind of tough to classify. It looks and feels like a liquid until you push or pull on it with great force.

Then we learned about quicksand, another mixture that behaves in the same strange way. Although these days, quicksand is not high on our list of worries, neither was a pandemic 2 months ago... Should someone fall into some quicksand, we wanted to know what's the best way to get them out: yanking them quickly or with slow movements.

General Science: Ooblek, solid, liquid, or gas?

This week's challenge was to classify ooblek (roughly 2 parts cornstarch to one part water) as a solid, liquid, or gas. Pretty easy, right? Wrong! Ooblek belongs to an unusual class of liquids that become solid when subjected to sudden pressure or force. As it happens quicksand behaves remarkably similarly to ooblek, which comes in handy if you're an ooblek expert asked to consult on the best way to escape from quicksand. To thrash or not to thrash? The kids submerged action figures and plastic animals in the ooblek and compared the reults of rescuing them using quick movements versus slow movements. Their recommendation: Move slowly and don't panic. Thrashing around simply causes the ooblek (or quicksand) to solidify, making it even harder to get free.