Oobleck

Daniella Chávez and Hope Coleman-Plourde

Innovation Academy Charter School

Overview

• What is Green Chemistry?
• What is viscosity and what are Non-Newtonian Fluids?
• Gather Materials and Understand Experiment Procedure
• Perform Experiment!
• Connect Experiment to Green Chemistry
• Wrap-up

What is green chemistry?

The idea of Green Chemistry was started by a chemist named john warner and is a way of doing experiments and creating products that don’t harm anyone or anything in the process!

3 Criteria of Green Chemistry

Cost

Performance

Safety

Will it be cheap to make?

Will it harm you or the environment around you?

Will it complete its purpose the best?

Examples of Green Chem in the real world:

-Medicine:

Ever hear of all those side effects of medicines on TV? Green Chemistry tries to avoid those!

-Computer Chips:

When making computers it can be a high energy process. Green Chemistry has been applied to use less energy when making computers!

Background info on Non-newtonian fluids

• What is viscosity?
• Describes the speed of flow of a liquid
• Higher viscosity---> Thicker
• Lower viscosity ---> Thinner

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Which one has the Highest viscosity?

*HInt* look at the last slide to remember!

Peanut Butter

Water

Or

Answer: Peanut Butter!

Peanut Butter

Water

Peanut Butter is thicker than water!

What are Non-Newtonian Fluids?

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• Fluids that don’t have a constant viscosity
• Depending on the force applied to the substance, the viscosity changes
• More force and pressure = higher viscosity (thicker)
• Less force and pressure = lower viscosity (thinner)

“What is Oobleck?”- A Crash Course Video:

*Optional* Print out lab packet:

• Lab packet has the procedure to make the oobleck but it also has ideas for what they can do with it and a space for observations to be written down. There will be questions in the packet asking them about how the fluid behaves, and what they can conclude from this.

LAB PACKET

Goals for The Experiment

• Understand and explain the green chemistry behind Oobleck
• Understand and explain how Non-Newtonian fluids are shown in the experiment
• Understand and explain how viscosity is seen in the experiment
• Effectively make Oobleck!
• Have fun!

Materials

You will need the following:

• 2 cups Cornstarch
• 1 cup Tap Water
• 1 Bowl
• A few drops of food coloring (optional)

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The Experiment

This video contains a step by step procedure on how to make Oobleck! Pause the video during instructions in order to complete them!

Fun things to do with the oobleck

• Try stirring the oobleck as if it is water. What does it do?
• Try to lift the oobleck like it were to be a rock. What does it do?
• Put your hand on top of the oobleck. Does it sink in or rest on the top?

Connection to Green Chemistry

• Oobleck can be made using inexpensive and easy to find materials!
• It is biodegradable and won’t harm the environment.
• Oobleck can be made without any dangerous procedures, ingredients, or tools.
• The final product is safe to play with and touch.
• Oobleck supports all 3 criteria of Green Chemistry!

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Wrap Up

• Today we learned about…
• Green Chemistry
• Non-Newtonian fluids
• Viscosity
• Share…
• Any conclusions you made
• What your favorite part was
• How you plan to use green chemistry in your life

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**Challenge!**

Can you give a definition of each?

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Acknowledgments

Quick shoutout to those who made this all possible…

Rian Benoit and Pierre Lessard…

for helping us create the original slides and for being amazing

Teammates :)

Ms. Derival…

for the constant and amazing feedback, guidance, and support through it all :)

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