Slime, Ooblek, Soil and Other Suspicious States of Matter

Explore the Scientific Aspects of Non-Newtonian Fluids

 

Slime, Ooblek, Soil and Other Suspicious States of Matter provides students the opportunity to explore many of the scientific aspects of non-Newtonian fluids ranging from slime to ooblek, to elephant’s toothpaste.  Students will kindle a fascination with different formulas while creating models for the fluids behavior at the molecular scale and exploring expressions of the fluid activity on Earth’s surface. At the end of the course, students will walk away with both a collection of strange substance and the tools to model how those substances shape the earth.

What You Will Learn

Slime, Ooblek, Soil and Other Suspicious States of Matter provides students the opportunity to explore the scientific aspects of non-Newtonian fluids.  Students will kindle a fascination with different formulas while creating models for fluid behaviors at the molecular scale.

• Assemble several non-newtonian fluids including slime and ooblek
• Model the basic relationship between molecular structure and flow properties of slime, ooblek and other fluids
• Predict the role of temperature on flow properties of non-Newtonian fluids such as ice
• Recognize features in the Earth System that result from the ongoing movement of non-Newtonian fluids

Return to the Sally Ride Science Junior Academy website here.

Note: Upon successful enrollment of a section, students will receive a confirmation email from our Student Services team. This email will include a link to an authorization form that is required to be completed within 72-hours of enrollment. 

In response to COVID-19 health guidelines, we have restructured our in-person Junior Academy workshops as
online courses. Contact us at srs@ucsd.edu if you have questions.

Course Number: SCI-90029
Credit: 1.50 unit(s)