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Student Activity - Slumpy solids or lumpy liquids

Activity idea

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.

Download the Word file (see link above) for:

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

Scientists gain understanding by systematically observing and describing things. From these observations, they look for patterns and use these to make explanations.

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