Okay, so today have I received a question from a reader. The reader asked, "What is the science behind dissolved cornstarch in water and why is it hard even though it is a liquid?" Well, to begin I will explain what happens when cornstarch is dissolved in water to those readers who did not know. When cornstarch is dissolved in water a substance is made that will turn solid if moved across quickly. The reason behind this is because of how the cornstarch acts as a solid dispersed throughout a liquid. When you apply force to the mixture the water is hit out of the way and all you are hitting is the solid, the cornstarch. This can be explained by explaining the states of matter. I will only be explaining the three most common states of matter and will be excluding plasma and Bose-Einstein condensates in order to simplify the process. The three main states of matter are solids, liquids, and gases. A solid has a definite shape and volume, an example of a solid is gold. A liquid has a definite volume but no definite shape, an example of a liquid is water. A gas has no definite shape or volume, an example of a gas is oxygen. Since water has no definite shape then it will spread to fill as much of an area as it can take up. However, a solid will not move out of the way and will stay rigid when hit. So, while the water moves out of the way to fill the rest of the container, the solid stays still and allows it's self to be hit.
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