Then we just stepped back and let the boys play for awhile…fine, I admit it, the moms played too. Notice how the liquid matter isn’t splattering all over my iPhone. It’s hard as a rock, so weird! Note: if you do this test and it splatters all over your kitchen, then you know to add more cornstarch…and you also know to do it outside next time o)Īnd the “Punch Test”. We poured the mixture into a flat cookie sheet then smacked it with our hands flat.
This was hard to get a picture of because the mixture melts almost immediately, but totally cool to do in person! Since it is a solid at the same time it is a liquid we were able to grab it, form it into a ball then watch it melt right before our very eyes. It was cool to actually “feel” the quicksand pulling down on our hands. To mimic quicksand, we stuck our fingers in it and tried to pull them out. As you can see below, if you swirl your finger around on in it, you can actually pull it away from the pan because it’s ‘dry’ on the bottom. Just like quicksand this mixture is a liquid and solid at the same time. Sure ‘nuf, the dude laying down floated, and the one standing sank to the bottom! Lesson learned. Quicksand is a mixture of In the book, the boy laid flat on his back to paddle out of the quicksand, so we tried two army guys. Next we did our official quicksand experiment. Whatever you do, don’t get your spoon stuck and then try to yank it out forcefully…I’m just sayin’. Then you just repeat that process of adding a little cornstarch and a little water and mixing until the whole box of cornstarch is used and you’ve got a consistency somewhat like honey. Then stirred it with a spoon as best we could. So we started by adding 1/4 bag of cornstarch and 1/2 cup of water.
I’m sure she’s getting them round up for us. It was then that I realized we didn’t have any army men in our house of all girls. Each boy received a box of cornstarch, a mixing bowl, a spoon, a cup of water, and a couple army men. Next we went into her well plastic covered dining area. It’s totally great for boys, there’s an anaconda, monkey, quicksand, and a moral to obey your parents for the mom’s out there who like to sneak in a character lesson here and there. She started off by reading Lake of the Big Snake by Isaac Olaleye. Little did I know she had a whole Nigeria quicksand day planned, and how cool that we just studied Nigeria! So with her permission, I stayed to take pics, and boy am I glad I did, it was so cool! And even cooler that it wasn’t in my kitchen o) wink, wink. My friend is a brave lady who always comes up with super fun stuff for them to do. And since my poor son is the only boy surrounded by girls all day, he loves to get out and do “man stuff”.
LIQUID COOL QUICKSAND YOUTUBE FULL
I mentioned it in the full Nigeria activity post, but I have this super cool friend who does a “Boys Science” day each month for a group of little guys. In this activity, we will make our own quicksand to get a feel of how it can be fluid and solid at the same time.
Floods, underground springs, or an earthquake can create ideal environments for quicksand which usually occurs around river beds. Quicksand occurs when water has flooded an area of sand and then is trapped in that area. It is both a solid and a liquid at the same time, making it a trap to moving animals and people. Quicksand is a soupy mixture of sand and water where sand is floating in and on the water. Nde-ewo! Welcome to our Expedition Earth Nigeria quicksand experiment.