The complexities of everyday things

So we did a quick little demo in science today… 3 parts cornstarch to 2 parts water makes this mass that has quite interesting physical characteristics. If left alone, the mass will behave like a viscous fluid, if disturbed the mass will act like a solid. The discussion about why this mass behaved the way it did used a surpizingly large amount of my physical chemistry knowledge. I think that it has something to do with hydrogen bonding between starch and starch, and between starch and water. However, this mass’ behaviour could also be explained via colloids. This stuff almost acts like very fine sand in water. Anyways it’s all very interesting, and it goes to show how indepth one can get with something simple. What I was supposed to have been learning while just playing with the starch… not quite sure.

Q