Investigation – Making Oobleck

This is another investigation that I did with corn starch. It was such a fun experiment and I did learn a lot. It strange why this object are liquid and solid. I also share the experiment with friends, and they kept sharing until everyone felt very interesting with the experiment. Here is a report for my investigation project.

Project Name : Why Oobleck act the way it does?
Name : Samady Sek

Question
Why do cornstarch act solid and liquid when it mixed with water?

Background Information
Oobleck are made up of the tiny particles of the cornstarch suspended in water. It is count as one of the non-Newtonian fluids but act a bit different from the rest such as shampoo, paste, paint or ketchup. Based on the Scientific American, applying force on the Oobleck make it increase its thickness, but if you slowly push the Oobleck it actually act as the normal liquid because the particles has more time to move away from each other and it is called Jamming.

Hypothesis
Before my research, I did not do any prediction of why the Oobleck are solid and liquid when it mixed with water but I expected that when I do the experiment, it will act the way it does.

Experiment
All I need for this experiment were

Cornstarch    2 jars
Water              ½ jar
Plastic Bags   1
Jars                    2

Steps
1. Measured cornstarch and water into different jars
2. Put cornstarch into plastic bag
3. Add water into the plastic bag
4. Mix both water and cornstarch until you see it blend together

Results
After I mixed everything up, it looked liquid. When I tried to push the Oobleck, it was actually become harder than I thought it was. I made a ball and tried to push as hard as possible. When I let the ball go, it flew through my fingers. I did added more cornstarch because it was too liquid. I learned that once I leave it to sit alone for a long time, the cornstarch will come together in one big solid, so that I need to add more water and mix it again.

Conclusion
In conclusion, Oobleck is a non-newtonian fluid which is a solution of cornstarch with water. Oobleck act the way it does because of the particles of the cornstarch are suspended from water, and another reason it is called Jamming which explain about when it is liquid, or solid. I believe scientists should research more about Oobleck because it might help to save life or benefits to humans and or environment in the future.

This class happened every Monday. We took this time to prepare for our upcoming TedxISPP which had already passed. We sometimes watched Ted videos so that we could get some ideas on how the speakers speak, show their impression and about their speech. It was so interesting and the speakers are very brave. Most of the time, we took this time to write our speech, or edit them. We also spent outside class time to prepare because one hour per week is not enough for us. But at the end, we finished and we did the TALK at the International School of Phnom Penh.

As we were getting older, Liger wanted us to be more responsible so Liger are going to have a currency system which made by some of the Liger students. In this Expertise I learned a lot, and here is my note taking in class.

Liger Economy

We are now planning the Liger Currency (pedro).

What we gonna talk about now is money in general, How to manage our own budgets?

A lot of people having problem with borrowing money, loan, manage their money or even save their money.

Money

What is it
Money is any valuable object that is widely used in the purchase and sale of goods and services.

Function in the economy

How to manage our own budgets?
Opportunities we have in Liger
Career

18/August/2016

If money doesn’t exist, we can trade goods.

Barter Problems

Using goods to trade for other goods without using money.

1. Some goods are heavy and hard to transport
2. Some goods don’t last
3. With barter, we need to want what the other person has
4. We need to figure out, how much our good is worth vs all other goods
5. Information is incomplete
6. Some good cannot be divide

Money must be

1. Medium of Exchange

It solves problem #3. I can sell my product for money and use that money to buy what I want. Both people are willing trade for money

2. Unit of account

Now I don’t to measure the quantity of the product. It’s a standard way of measuring value. Now I have a much better idea how much my goods worth. Example: I don’t need to measure 1kg of Dorian equal how much kg for the rice. I just need to said 1kg of dorian 12000 riel.
This answer problem #4.

3. Store of value

Solve problem #2. Money didn’t get lost or rotten like fish. Something put away for a time and still keep its value.

4. Standard of Deferred Payment

A standard way of paying of future debt. Money is denominations (size, measure, different value, be able to divide)

The Value of Money

Commodity Money

Money that made out of something valuable (made from gold). In 1915, the commodity worth $5.

Representative Money

Money that gets its value from being exchangeable into a precious metal like gold and silver.

Fiat Money

Physical currency  authorized by a central bank or governmental body and that does not have to be exchanged for gold or some other commodity money. Backed by nothing but the promise of the Federal Government.

The government said that it is worth this much, and we believe the promise.

Electronic Money

– Does not exist in physical. It’s exist virtually form. Extremely Important for every economy.
Right now, there are more Electronic money than Physical money (much much more);

8/25/2016

How is money created?

We don’t have money, so we’ll do barter. I am the president of the Liger economy. The first thing I do is to create a central bank. Take care of printing, and distribute money. Vuthy will be a central bank management.

1. I create a central Bank, which will be Vuthy

2. Vuthy (Central Bank) will prints papers certificates and decrees the value of each certificate to be 1 pedro (pd) which becomes the national currency in Liger republic. I and Vuthy will say it worth 1 pedro, we guaranty, and we said that.

3. The government will punish someone other than the Liger central bank from printing these certificates. One way for them to get the money is for them to pay government workers. Then they buy assets (buy clothes, fruit, cars), so the money can go to the people.

4. Legal Tender – On every money, there is a legal tender: means here something must be accepted in an exchange of goods and services. I can’t exchange car with Royal D. Government accepted it as payment for taxes. Utah next to Navada, Navada next to California – Utah is a country that have silver as a legal tender

After Khmer Rouge, Cambodia make new currency because at that time it hard to sell assets.
When the government want to introduce the money, they will buy things. When they want to take money back, they sell things example land, clothes, etc.

Role of the central bank

1. Printing and take care of all the currency in the country
2. Creating a money (monetary) policy for the entire country
4.. Monetary Policy – a money plan for the country, he need to decide whether the government need to print more money, or less money. Does it need to take out money for the economy?
5. Setting Interest rates

Right now the interest rates in Cambodia is 1.42%. In U.S, the interest rates only .5%. If I putted money in U.S. bank, I got only  extra .5% of the money I put. Why I got so low in U.S than in Cambodia? It has to do a lot with GDP growth. If the interest rates go high, it hard to borrow money. So they will buy less things. It helps to lower the speed of the economy not to grow quickly.

Sept/15/2016

Each person found about 52,000 dollars a year in America-. 27% of people save 0 money, 22% of people can’t pay 100 dollars, and 46% of people can’t pay 800 dollars.

First bank created electronic bank, and the people borrow money but not all money.

I had about 3 hours every Wednesday to work on my Investigation Project which is about a freezer that putted underground to store food. I got this idea from a Makerthon Competition that I joined during weekend. In class I tried to do more research about, can fan cool down the water. I worked with Menghourt cause he had the same idea as me too, and also he was my partner when we were at the Makerthon. Throughout the research, I got this summery for my final investigation class but my teachers gave me a lot of comments which is good cause I can improve and I’m or We’re going to improve it at the next round investigation class cause the expertise was already ended.

Read our unfinished report below:

Project Name: Underground Freezer

Team Members: Meng Houth and Samady

Question: How to keep the crops last longer after they’re harvested?

Background Information:

Cambodia is an agriculture country, and about 80% of Cambodian people were farmers. Rice is the most important agricultural in this region. Cambodia Exports 149,464 Tons of Rice in January – March 2015; Up 77% from Last Year. Cambodia also do other farming. According to Phnom Penh, the country produced 92,000 tons of corn (maize), as well as 100,000 tons of cassava, about 34,000 tons of sweet potatoes, and 37,000 tons of dry beans in 1986. However, rotten crops are continuing to happen rapidly. Most of the crops last only 3-4 days, which is really bad for the sellers, famers or someone who export the product. This problem has impact the economy, and the people who survive from the crops and it had become one of the food waste problems.

Hypothesis:

Our hypothesis is plastic will help observe the cold from the water, so it can help to fresh the food, just like refridgerator. We think that it can keep the fruits and the crops last about 1 week.

Experiment or Design:

The solution that we came up was a solution we used to compete in the Southeast Asia Makerthon. This is a simple idea that pop out of our brain, it called a ground freezer. But we’re not making it because it’s such a big product, but this is an idea that people can take and make it better. Basically, the product is a plastic box which has bamboo structure inside it. Around the plastic box, there is another plastic box which contain water, but the water is only half full of the plastic box. On the side, there is a fan which attach with the windmill above the ground. That windmill is use the energy of the wind, to rotate the fan, so it can move the water which help to cool down the water, and help the crops. We need to paint the box because it can help the metal to not get rust. We also has a tube connected to the box, and come out of the ground, so the hot air can get out. Around the lit, there is a rubber gastex, which help to stuck the lit and the plastic box together (note: similar to refrigerator).

Conclusion:

Our conclusion is, we are not sure the product going to work or not because we didn’t get to do the testing. But throughout research and some other small tests, we found out that, fan can keep the water cold, which means it can cool the crops. When we use the windmill to make the fan move to move the water, it also can help to produce electricity and that benefit the people who used it without spending money on electricity. Also, this product is easy to prepare, and villagers can make their own. We need to think carefully about  the cost of the product, and can villagers afford that. But, our main focus is not to get money but to create a product that can help to improve our country and the world as we know that currently, food crisis are happening, and there are many vegetables spoiled after a few days. We are hoping that investors are interested with the product, and help to improve it.