How To: Make Non-Newtonian Fluid (& Experiment with it!)

This instructable will show you how to make a simple non-Newtonian fluid out of corn starch and water.

Our matter will turn into a solid when pressure is exerted on it, and will turn into a liquid when little or no pressure is exerted on it.

"It's not that this fluid doesn't have a well defined viscosity (because we can mathematically define the fluid viscosity) -- it's that this fluid's viscosity is defined as a function of the rate of shear - that is, the fluid acts more viscous as you increase shear - a dilatant fluid"
trebuchet03

Materials needed for this experiment:
~Corn Starch (About as much water as you are using)
~Water
~Containers
~Stirring rod (or anything to stir with)
~Ice
~Freezer
~Microwave

Step 1 Mix it!

Put water in a big bowl/container you adding corn starch until the water becomes extremely tough to stir. It has also been described as a syrupy texture, but you should be able to feel a difference. If you are not sure, you can test it by applying pressure with the poke of your finger or a spoon. You will feel and initial resistance by the fluid and then it will slowly release.

Comments

[totallylegitadvice]

I covered my chest in this and then shot myself with a pistol, it TOTALLY stopped the bullet and I fully recommend trying this at home.

[torie_brook]

if you put the stuff on a speaker, covered by plastic wrap, and turn up the bass it jumps with the music.

[23mcharlotte]

what use dose this have?

[technick29]

Any use that you can think of.

[szulli-randall]

Put it in a squirt gun!
Throw it at people!
Put it in a potato and shoot it out of a potato gun!

[dudemonkeys]

If this stuff can harden enough to stop a bullet, this could be used in bulletproofing.

[nintendo309]

That is one of the ideas, because it is easy to manuvure, but can become hard.

[dudemonkeys]

They've actually found that this property is shown in a suspension of silicon beads (nanosized) in (poly)ethylene glycol. Kevlar soaked in this is more resistant to bullets and 4 layers of soaked kevlar performs as well as 14 layers of normal kevlar.

[nintendo309]

So 14 layers of kevlar would be... *does math* 49 layers of KEVLAR! Jeeze. That would probably stop a bullet.

[shammallamaman]

Mythbusters tried it, didn't work :(

[railroad9]

Fortunately for law-enforcement (and unfortunately for Adam and Jaimie), a single data-point doesn't really prove anything. There's already a good bit of testing and exploring of non-Newtonian fluids for armor, so yeah, it's on its way!

[technick29]

Nice!

[WPee]

Consider making a Non-Newtonian Fluid "Cloud" over parts of earth to BULLET STOP incoming meteors (and aliens) as they speed toward us.

Kinda of a KLINGON anti-matter force field....SHIELDS UP !!!

 

[CmdShepard85]

ROFL that would be great!...if it were possible

[BERGERMAN47]

hi i zapped some in the microwave and it went hard kinda turned into a substance a lot like plain corn flour.

[BERGERMAN47]

i forgot to mention this was straight after it had been in the fridge for a few hours

[BERGERMAN47]

sorry for triple post everyone but i just found that adding more water, quite a bit actually, turns it back to normal.

[nanoz300]

Nice!

[Lone]

Thanks a lot guys!!!! MY project went smoothly with the help of u guys.

[hock3ydud3]

didnt the myth busters do something like this, only like a life size scale? or maybe that was quick sand, but i think they did something like this too

[wolf555hound]

yea, they have, he was trying to walk on water, then they did thi sagian trying to stop a bullet, but he put it in little baggies, so it didnt work.

[shammallamaman]

no, they haven't, i have seen all of the episodes

[mg0930mg]

Obviously not, they've done this, and quick-sand experiment...

[shammallamaman]

yeah, i saw that episode like a couple days after i posted this, excuse my ignorance

[technick29]

I'm not sure... probably though, Mythbusters does a lot of cool stuff!

[philipburtburt]

I made it and if you you cover it with sand it looks like all sand untill you tell your eney to put there finger in it!lol

[farbs]

by the way, in the experimenting: ice, im pretty sure the lines are just from the nnf not freezing like a lower viscosity liquid would. liquids freeze from the surface they are contained in to the center of them, because solids cool faster than liquids. solids shrink when cooled to an extreme degree, while liquids expand. (note: gases can be frozen at temperatures close to absolute zero, theoretically) so your nnf could do something in between and leave air under cracks in the surface of it. try putting the nnf in a measuring cup and measure the difference before and after.

[farbs]

try zapping it as a liquid. I will when I make it, and ill post what happened, but if someone gets there first, reply to this comment.

[technick29]

PS: Can I add this to the "Your Experiments" step?

[farbs]

sure! go ahead.
im still having trouble getting corn starch, only because i havent had time to go to foodtown. =]

[technick29]

Alright, thanks!

[technick29]

Good idea man. I'll let you know if I get around to it.

[farbs]

and you could try to vibrate it, not violently, but put something in it that vibrates and turn it on.

[kalboon]

does anyone know what would happen if the water was very hot when adding the corn starch? would I just end up cooking it lol? I was only wondering if by heating the water it would cause the separation of the corn starch and water to be less of a problem for long term storage ..... also I know that dupont makes this out of silicon crystals (like sand blaster sand or quartz) and poly ethelyn glycol .... does anyone know the correct ratio to mix together using those items? thnx

[chuck norris]

Is corn starch the only thing that will do this to water? If not, than what other thing might work? Also is it possible for the final product to be as clear as water? (might make a good prank to pull. ex: fill someone's pool with it and watch what happens when they jump in!) By the way, that is a pretty good and simple instructable. Good job.

[GuardianSensor]

This stuff would be great in a "water" bed! When your lying there all nice cozy it would be fluid, then when you go to get out of bed it would harden up enough to allow you to get up and out easily! Sounds fun.

[technick29]

Wow, that's a great idea. I might have to try that...

[GuardianSensor]

It wouldn't be funny when they sank, because the moment they started to swim they would get stuck.....if someone tried to pull them out too fast they would get stuck, and because they would be panicking they would never get loose and would die. This could be a neat way to torture terrorists though.....submerge them up to their necks watch them struggle to get out! LOL hahahahahahahaha. That would be fun!

[technick29]

Thanks Chuck. As of now, I'm not sure if there's any way of making it clear, though that would be an amazing prank! I'll let you know if I find a solution.

[Deightine]

I think perhaps you might be able to do it with Arrow Root... But I'm not sure if the starch level would be high enough. But arrowroot is commonly available as a substitute for corn starch in cooking, and I've used it for many glazes on desserts in the past and it does achieve a similar gel state... For more info on the plant: Wikipedia:Arrowroot

Hope that helps someone. :)