Oobleck, of course. No idea how it got there though!

Today, students were practicing what it means to be a scientist (as well as making a mess, which is always fun!). They have been exploring the scientific process, experimenting, asking big questions and being creative. Students were given a mysterious substance supposedly found in Mr. H’s backyard. We had a great time experimenting with it and studying it’s properties. Do you remember what properties are? We can find the properties of objects around us by using our 5 senses; what we see, feel, hear, smell and taste. So,

Properties are the things or words we use to describe different objects so we can tell them apart.

We played with and investigated the properties of Oobleck to help us understand what made Oobleck different from other substances like water or play-do. The students had some wonderful properties you discovered as you worked with the Oobleck.
Next we will hold a scientific convention to decide upon some “truths” about Oobleck and come up with a set of laws that are true about Oobleck. We are now into the design phase of the process.

You can check out some pictures below in our freshly created Oobleck Video.

Oobleck, of course, is a real substance. It’s very distinctive property of being both a solid and a liquid has made scientists curious for a long time. When left alone, Oobleck will act like a liquid. However, when squeezed, hit or pushed on, it will suddenly act like a solid, cracking and breaking under pressure. Scientists still do not know why it does this.

If you have lots of time and lots of Oobleck, you could do this:

Here is a video showing what Oobleck does when you put it on top of a very loud speaker!!! What do you notice? Would water do this is you did the same thing? Why don’t you try it and find out?