Cornstarch quicksand... oh, what fun!

Is it a liquid? Is it a solid? Neither, it is actually a suspension! The cornstarch and water mixture acts like a solid sometimes and a liquid at other times. This concoction is an example of a suspension - a mixture of two substances, one of which is finely divided and dispersed in the other. In the case of the cornstarch quicksand, it's a solid dispersed in a liquid.

In this experiment, we used ordinary cornstarch to model the behavior of real quicksand. The children had a blast!  This is great fun to do outside on a summer day using a garden hose to clean up!!  Thanks for another week of science fun, Science Mom!