What Is a Non-Newtonian Fluid?
Season One: Episode Two: What Is A Non-Newtonian Fluid?
Released: August 8, 2023
Transcript:
**Upbeat Music** Welcome to Hyperfixing with Cate. I’m your host, Cate North. Join me today as we dive into yet another amazing hyperfixation. **Upbeat Music**
Hello and welcome back to another episode of Hyperfixing with Cate. I'm your host Cate. On today's episode I thought we could talk about something I learned this week that I thought was super cool and well timed for me at least.
First story time, my children are school aged and as such have summer break. Passed on from friends of previous school aged children we participate in adventure Fridays. This is something we do on Fridays that is different from week to week and from what we do during the week. It's usually a fun age appropriate activity or local low cost attraction. We've done the zoo, drag races, fishing, civil war parks, butterfly houses and so on. Of those that participate we have children aged 2 through 12. It can be difficult sometimes to find something that everyone will enjoy. On this particular Friday we decided to do science experiments. We had three different stations: volcanoes, oobleck and slime. Overall it was a great success, we were able to step out of our comfort zones and learned new words in the process. I don't know if you knew this but non Newtonian Fluid is quite difficult for a 2 year old to say.
So what is a non Newtonian Fluid and/or oobleck? Well, oobleck is a non Newtonian Fluid. And a non Newtonian Fluid is (according to Wikipedia) "non-Newtonian fluid is a fluid that does not follow Newton's law of viscosity, that is, it has variable viscosity dependent on stress. In non-Newtonian fluids, viscosity can change when under force to either more liquid or more solid." They way that we explained it is at rest it is a liquid and under pressure it is a solid. So if you hold oobleck in your hand it will run through your fingers. If you squish oobleck in your hand it will form a ball momentarily. We then went on to discuss what else is a non Newtonian Fluid, did toothpaste or glass qualify? They did not. We all decided that oobleck was the only non Newtonian Fluid that we knew of. At the time it didn't occur to me to look up other examples, and technically until this moment it still hasn't occurred to me. PS for those of you that want to make oobleck it's super easy. You just mix corn starch and water together. I believe it's about equal parts of both but it's easy to fix if you don't quite get it right. Add more corn starch if it's to liquid and more water if it's too thick. It's really fun to play with but can be a bit of a sensory overload for those that have issues with textures and/or messes.
Any whosel, a couple of days later I was watching the ol tiktok as one does and I came across a video about frogs. I always love a good did you know about animals. Once upon a time I wanted to be a zoologist. This one blew my mind a little because it was so well timed and on topic. Did you know that frog spit is a non Newtonian Fluid? Because I certainly did not. According to the video frog spit is a fluid at rest and then when they strike out their tongue to catch prey it solidifies around the prey making it impossible for them to escape. Then they retract their tongue and swallow their prey with pressure from their eyeballs. They use their eyes to swallow. According to the national library of medicine "We show that the tongue's unique stickiness results from a combination of a soft, viscoelastic tongue coupled with non-Newtonian saliva. The tongue acts like a car's shock absorber during insect capture, absorbing energy and so preventing separation from the insect. The shear-thinning saliva spreads over the insect during impact, grips it firmly during tongue retraction, and slides off during swallowing. This combination of properties gives the tongue 50 times greater work of adhesion than known synthetic polymer materials such as the sticky-hand toy."
This information just made frogs all the more cool for you or all the more disgusting. It depends on your perspective. In my case, definitely more cool.
I started to look up more about non-Newtonian fluids and it is complex and very interesting. I'd love to tell you more about it but personally I don't feel prepared for that at this moment. For example, tooth paste might actually qualify as a non-Newtonian fluid. So here is my quest for you, do you know anyone who is super interested in non-Newtonian fluids that would like to come on the podcast and talk with us about it. If so let me and/or them know and we will work to get that arranged. In fact if there is a topic you are interested in talking about please let me know and we can start working on it.
Thank you for joining me as we discovered the exciting world of non-newtonian fluids. I can’t wait to learn more with you. And until then, I hope you have a fantabulous day!
**Upbeat Music** Thank you for joining me today on Hyperfixing with Cate. I hope to see you again next week where we explore the delectable world of yet another hyperfixation. If you enjoyed today’s show I would love it if you subscribed to the podcast. Don’t forget to check out the links and resources in the show notes. Today’s music was brought to you by Sound Gallery by Dimitri Taras. And until next time don’t forget to keep your heart and mind open. **Upbeat Music**
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