Slumpy solids or lumpy liquids

In this activity, students explore a range of common household substances to determine if they have the properties of a solid, a liquid or both.

By the end of this activity, students should be able to:

• conduct a series of tests to identify the properties of solids and liquids
• record observations in a table
• use these results to classify each test substance as a Newtonian fluid or a non-Newtonian fluid.

Rights: The University of Waikato

Different liquids

Water, milk, juice, oil, tomato sauce, honey and custard are all liquids, although some of them are special liquids called non-Newtonian fluids.

Download the Word file for:

• introduction/background notes
• what you need
• what to do
• discussion questions
• extension ideas
• classifying liquids.