h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

I know this only too well, since my housemate has demonstrated it many times since acquiring some of the stuff a month ago. The lounge floor is now covered in little sticky patches of orange gunk.

Thixotropic goo is great fun, but it's a b*gg*r to get out of your carpets.

Also dynamite (or is it gunpowder) has an interesting property - on its own it's fairly unspectacular if you put a match to it, but if you confine it within even the flimsiest of paper it becomes explosive.

Can anyone explain the science?

Nice link.

I think that's just about sorted it out.

B

Isn't that characteristic of thixotropic substances?

What, that you can't get it out of carpets?

B

I was under the impression (false?) that a thixotropic substance congeals if left alone and becomes liquid again if stirred or shaken e.g. tomato ketchup

°L°

The science is a bit more complicated, but that's the general principle, yes.

A thread in this forum a while back was about the thixotropy of Marmite, in that is you put it on a plate and hit it with a spoon (try it, it's fun!), it turns white as it becomes crystalline.

B

"a thixotropic substance congeals if left alone and becomes liquid again if stirred or shaken"

That's right, but it's no help trying to get it out of my lounge floor. Have you ever tried shaking a fitted carpet?

Try hitting it with a spoon.

B

Genius idea, B! The perfect way to liven up a dull day - spend a couple of hours hitting a lump of bright orange dilatant thixotropic slime with a spoon. I wonder if it turns white too?

* to try the experiment...*

**Expects van from local lunatic asylum to turn up at Dolt's house shortly after his housemates catch him beating the floor with a spoon**

B

Awaits the results of the Dolt / spoon / silly putty experiment ...

F

Give over with the simulposts B.

F

Damn ..

F

A cursory investigation of the lounge floor in the vicinity of the largest smudge of silly putty revealed that there are worse things than orange gunk to contend with down there

So in the interests of health and safety, (and to avoid the attentions of housemates and the men in white coats ) I procured a lump of putty and a spoon (stainless steel, in honour of the original topic) and have removed myself to the privacy of my own room to conduct the experiment.

Sorry, my posting was out of sync. Missed a page turn again.

Mind the carpet Dolt!

I've always found it interesting the way carbon conducts electricity. Do diamonds conduct electricity? Anyone know?

Bah, bother this for a game of marbles (I haven't totally lost mine, yet). Every time I whack the stuff it bounces off the plate at high speed into a random recess of the room, and the last thing I want is orange stuff in this carpet too.

Diamond doesn't conduct electricity. The only forms of carbon which do are graphite, 'nanotubes' (which have similar structure to graphite), and I suppose buckyballs do too.

Buckyballs do not conduct, which has puzzled scientists as there is no logcially good reason. They do superconduct, though, which has thrown a lot of people into a bit of a tiswas.

B