Ketchup and oobleck and slime, oh my!

2024-11-07T14:30:27-06:00
11/07
Kids, like many of us, love playing with non-Newtonian fluids. Photo by tookapic/Pixabay.
Kids, like many of us, love playing with non-Newtonian fluids. Photo by tookapic/Pixabay.
What is a Non-Newtonian Fluid?

Why do so many fluids behave counterintuitively? Many substances in our lives – like oobleck, slime, or Silly Putty – don’t quite behave the way we expect a fluid to, despite some fluid-like properties. These substances fall into a special category: non-Newtonian fluids. Scientifically, this term is a bit of a catch-all for any substances that have a complicated relationship between their apparent viscosity and the force applied to them.

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Ketchup and oobleck and slime, oh my!2024-11-07T14:30:27-06:00

What is Viscosity?

2021-07-21T14:17:27-06:00
07/21
Supporting Image
Supporting Image
Honey pours slower than water, but why?

The term may be unfamiliar, but we all have a sense for viscosity. We often think of it colloquially as the “thickness” of a fluid. It’s the property that makes honey pour so differently from water. Fluid dynamicists – scientists and engineers who study how liquids and gases move – tend to think of viscosity in terms of a fluid’s resistance to flowing or changing its shape.

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What is Viscosity?2021-07-21T14:17:27-06:00
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