Corn flour mixture's strange properties explored

[dipsydoodle]

Scientists are finally getting to the bottom of the mechanism behind the familiar "kitchen chemistry" experiment using water and corn flour.

A thick mixture of the two pours like a liquid but is hard when struck; the same idea is used in some body armour.

But exactly what is going on within these mixtures has remained a mystery.

Now researchers reporting in Nature have shown how compression of the particles just below the strike area jam together when under a force.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-18800017

[tridim]

1. I assume you've seen these?

[struggle4progress]

4. John Tickle Walks On Custard

[eppur_se_muova]

2. Corn starch, not corn flour, is more commonly used.

Technicallly, it's known as "oobleck".

[Igel]

3. "Corn flour" is British for "corn starch." Same stuff. n/t