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Cornstarch Suspension

What you need:

• 1 cup cornstarch
• bowl
• ABOUT 1/2 cup water
• spoon
• pie plate
• food coloring
• Optional:  Cornstarch Suspension Printable Activity Sheet

Directions:

• Empty 1 cup of cornstarch into a large bowl.
    
• Stir while you add water SLOWLY -- don't add all of it if you don't need to.  
  • You need the consistency of thick pancake batter.  
  • It's better to add too little water than too much.  
  • Take your time!
      
• Add a few drops of food coloring.
    
• Stick your hands in the mixture.  
  • Record what it feels like.  
  • What happens when you try to roll some into a ball and then leave it alone?
      
• Pour the water into a pie plate.  (water is a liquid)
  • smack it with your hand
  • record what happens
      
• Empty the pie plate.  Pour the cornstarch mixture into a pie plate.  
  • smack it with your hand
  • record what happens
  • does it act differently than the water?

What Happened:

When we talk about "states" of matter, we usually talk about the three types:  solid (like a rock), liquid (like water) and gas (like the air we breath).

A mixture of cornstarch and water make what is known as a suspension.  When you squeeze a Cornstarch Suspension it really feels like a solid because its molecules line up.  But it looks like a liquid and acts like a liquid when no one is pressing on it because the molecules relax.  This is another state of matter, called a suspension (It can act like a liquid, or, when pressed like a solid.).