Video of the Moment: Big Oobleck Experiment

The boys from The Big Bang Theory play with a non-Newtonian fluid and a bass speaker.

Link of the Moment: STF Fabric

One of the more impressive applications of shear-thickening fluids is as a additive to body armor.  A collaboration between the University of Delaware and the U.S. Army Research Laboratory has improved the protective properties of Kevlar.  The home page is here, and pictures and video are here.

Video of the Moment: Liquid Body Armor

The folks from the Discovery Channel TV Show Time Warp use a mixture of water and cornstarch as a test of the concept of a dilatant fluid-based liquid body armor.



I like this because it's a little different than the videos of people running across pools.

Surely You're Joking (#10): Literal Dr. Seuss

With apologies to Dr. Seuss...

Inspired by this post at Buzzfeed.

Links of the Moment: Shear-Thickening Fluids

The 2008 Rheology Bulletin had links to movies that showed off the shear-thickening properties of cornstarch/water solutions.  The mixture of 1 part water to 1.5-2 parts cornstarch has become known as oobleck, which was a fanciful fluid invented by Dr. Seuss.  After the jump, several videos of oobleck experiments.

Hat tip: Rheology Bulletin