Question: how Menny non-newtonian liquid are they

Pete Gwynne answered on 13 Nov 2017:

quite a few! firstly, a newtonian liquid is one that gets thicker as it cools down and runnier they heat up. this is pretty much most liquids, including things like oil and water. a non-newtonian liquid is one that can also be affected by stress – basically by hitting it or moving it about. a lot of things are non-newtonian, but there’s two main types:

a) things that get runnier when under stress. this includes things like ketchup, which all falls out the bottle if you hit the bottom, and toothpaste, which is much thicker when it’s in the tube than it is when you’re swooshing it around in your mouth. Paint and blood are also like this.

b) things that get thicker under stress. this is what cornflour and water/oblick/oobleck is – it goes hard if you hit it. there’s also something similar in your knees and elbows, which is liquid normally (letting you move about) but if you bang your knee it gets hard to keep your bones safe. you can also use this type of non-newtonian materials to make bulletproof things.