Slime is fun whether you are a child or an adult! It has been described as pleasurable to watch and very calming for those suffering from stress and anxiety. Recently, its popularity increased highly and it’s no longer just something that you create as a science project, but rather a top favorite to play with!
Is slime a liquid?
Slime flows like a liquid, but unlike familiar liquids (e.g., oil, water), its ability to flow, or viscosity, is not constant. So it’s a fluid, but not a regular liquid. Scientists call a material that changes viscosity a non-Newtonian fluid. Newtonian fluids are liquids that pour and behave like oil, water, and alcohol. Slime does not, therefore can be considered a non-Newtonian fluid.
The technical explanation is that slime is a fluid that changes its ability to resist deformation according to shear or tensile stress. Fluids have a constant viscosity and that the flow behavior of fluids or their viscosity varies when there are changes in the temperature or pressure. What’s strange is that some fluids do not conform to Newton’s observation of fluids, and these fluids are called non-Newtonian fluids.
The viscosity of the non-Newtonian fluids, like slime, is affected by the application of shear stress such as squeezing, agitating, stirring, or putting a mechanical pressure on the fluids. This type of fluids could be so viscous sometimes making them hard to flow and could be mistaken as solids.
A natural form of slime is mucous, which consists mainly of water, the glycoprotein mucin, and salts. Water is the main ingredient in some types of human-made slime, too. The classic science project slime recipe mixes glue, borax, and water. Oobleck is a mixture of starch and water.
If you ever want to go ahead a make some fun “non-Newtonian fluid” yourself, check the instructions in the video below:
Sources: Thought Co, Did You Know Science? , Hamz Youtube Chanel
