Oobleck Bog
to use with Orvis by HM Hoover
Polymers are long strings of molecules that form many substances such as proteins and other substances that make up life. Polymers can act oddly because they are made of such long strings of molecules.
On the way to Toby’s great-grandmother’s house, Toby, Thaddeus and Orvis have come to a vast bog that is too wide to go around made up of some kind of ooky substance. Orvis needs to test this substance that he’s identified only as a polymer. He wants to know if Toby and Thaddeus can walk safely across it or if they will need some kind of vehicle to cross in. He could use your help with identifying the properties of this substance which he has named Oobleck, since it looks very much like the stuff in Dr. Seuss’s book. (He read this when he was owned by the rare book dealer). Can you help?
Procedure
1. Mix: 1 box of Corn Starch
Food coloring
1 cup of water.
Add extra water a very little at a time and mix well with your hands. It’s a good idea to use plastic gloves, since the food coloring stains.
2. Squeeze the Oobleck, let it ooze through your fingers, hit it, press on it, try different ways of touching it or anything else you can think of.
3. Try placing objects on it. What happens? Does size or shape make a difference?
4. Record your results.
5. Build a vehicle and test it.
6. Place Orvis and the kids in it (use your imagination to provide substitutes) and see if it will stay afloat.
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