Oobleck

So today I got to spend 4 hours figuring out how to make 2 tons of corn starch goo turn the same color as a swimming pool. Life is so good. But it got me thinking about this Oobleck stuff, which oddly enough I had to make in huge quantities when I was working as a counselor in the Nature Shack at Coleman Country Day Camp like 10-12 years ago, between cleaning up goat crap and pulling kids out of the pond when they fell in. I suppose the fact that I'm doing this for a TV show now should be some kind of full circle moment or something. But I'm not cognitively developed enough to make that connection; all I can focus on is huge quantities of awesome colorful goo.

This is Lori. And a pig. This picture is like 10 years old. 

I worked in this pen every summer for 5 years. It smelled like shit.

Oobleck is basically a corn starch and water mixture that, when combined in a specific ratio, creates something called a non-Newtonian fluid. This basically means that the viscosity of the fluid is not directly proportional to the amount of stress applied to it. Usually there's a direct relationship (i.e. a constant coefficient) between stress and viscosity; the cool thing about non-Newtonian fluids is that they can function much like a solid under certain conditions.

This little girl scares me

If you want to make your own, take two parts cornstarch and one part water, and mix them together in a bowl. It will be difficult, and more like kneading. You might need to add more water or corn starch depending on how humid it is, and it varies a bit from batch to batch. Add a few drops of food coloring to your liking and mix until the color is even.

If you haven't made this before you definitely should. It doesn't matter if you're an adult, you'll have fun. And the materials are cheap enough that it's worth it. I'm going to make some this week. It's awesome if you're having a bad day too. It's like a stress ball only more awesome.

I will try to take pictures in a few weeks of the 2,000+ pounds of this stuff that's going to be made. I think it's gonna be pretty cool.