I never heard the word "oobleck" before. Learn somethin' new every day.
I googled "oobleck in the bathtub" and the first thing that came up was your old Blogspot blog. Only a few lyrics, though--are they available somewhere?
You have to love cornstarch. :) When I was working at Exxon, we did quite a bit of research on oils and of course oils are newtonian, which means they are shear thinning or thrixotic in nature. As you apply energy, the liquid thins. This is why you bang on the ketsup bottle, because energy will cause liquids to thin. But cornstarch is shear thickening. The more energy you put into it, the thicker it gets. If you stop putting energy into it, it will thin. There is a joke where you create a mixture of cornstarch and pour it into a pan. Slap your hand on the pan to make the cornstarch thicken some and then pick it up off the pan and start rolling it into a ball in your hand. As you roll it, the energy will cause the ball to solidify. Walk up to someone, ask them to hold your ball for you and hand it to them. Imagine their surprise when the ball "melts".
Our next joke will involve several hundred balloons, a bucket of liquid N2 and a closed office. :)
Nope helium takes up too much space. We did this one day while someone was on vacation. I had a key to his office in case we needed to get something when he wasn't around, so we had easy access. I picked up about 500 balloons at a local party shop and using air cylinders in the lab inflated them, one by one. As each was inflated I dropped them into the bucket of liquid N2. Air in the balloon, being 80% N2 liquified and the balloon deflated to almost as small as it was prior to inflation. Once all the balloons were in the bucket, we dumped it on the office floor being very careful not to break the balloons. Once the floor was covered and the liquid N2 was evaporating, we quickly exited the room and closed the door. Once the balloons got warm, they N2 turned back to a gaseous state and re-inflated the balloons. Office owner returned from his trip to find is office filled to the ceiling with balloons packed so tight he couldn't get the door open. He had to push against the door and pop balloons until the pressure was relieved. He was most impressed not that we had done it, but he couldn't figure out how we managed to pack the room so tight. :)
I recall one of my chem lab TAs telling of the time one of his cohorts mixed up some-explosive-powder-the-name-of-which-I've-forgotten. They sprinkled it in the hallways and on the stairs--this was the late 70s, ok--and hoped to catch one of their labmates. Instead, when they heard the crack-crack-crack of approaching footsteps, they looked out to find the prof they worked for trudging down the hall. He apparently gave no indication that he noticed anything unusual. Entered the lab to the sound of popping and went to work.
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winterfish
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Date: 2006-11-16 12:32 am (UTC)Yanno, I found out recently that Elise Matthesen was the mastermind behind the infamous filk song "Oobleck in the Bathtub."
Truly, it is a small but mighty genre.
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Date: 2006-11-16 12:44 am (UTC)I googled "oobleck in the bathtub" and the first thing that came up was your old Blogspot blog. Only a few lyrics, though--are they available somewhere?
no subject
Date: 2006-11-16 12:44 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-11-16 12:46 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-11-16 12:49 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-11-16 04:56 pm (UTC)Our next joke will involve several hundred balloons, a bucket of liquid N2 and a closed office. :)
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Date: 2006-11-16 06:07 pm (UTC)What? No helium?
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Date: 2006-11-16 07:05 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-11-17 12:10 am (UTC)I recall one of my chem lab TAs telling of the time one of his cohorts mixed up some-explosive-powder-the-name-of-which-I've-forgotten. They sprinkled it in the hallways and on the stairs--this was the late 70s, ok--and hoped to catch one of their labmates. Instead, when they heard the crack-crack-crack of approaching footsteps, they looked out to find the prof they worked for trudging down the hall. He apparently gave no indication that he noticed anything unusual. Entered the lab to the sound of popping and went to work.