Scientific American is calling it “oobleck.” My mom just called it “goop.” Really, this mixture of cornstarch and water is a non-Newtonian fluid—not quite a liquid, not quite a solid, lots of fun to futz around with.
I’m sure that a lot of you are familiar with goop (and probably have your own name for it, too). I decided to post this Scientific American video, and the story that goes with it, because they do a nice job of helping parents connect a gross and goofy toy back to real science experiments. Non-Newtonian fluids are obviously cool. What we can learn from them about the world is often less apparent. This should help.