maserati

Today in class we did a lab on amorphous solids. An amorphous solid is also known as a slow moving liquid and has characteristics of both solids and liquid. The material we worked with was water and cornstarch mixed together which created a very cool substance called Goop. Goop would turn solid when pressure was applied to it but would turn liquidy when the pressure was released. we also learned about other amorphous solids like glass. Scientists are still debating whether glass was truly an amorphous solid. Studies show that glass from about thirty years drips down to the bottom so that the bottom of the glass is thicker than the top. This means that the glass is slowly dripping from the top down to the bottom. We learned that there are 4 states of matter: solid, liquid, gas, and plasma. Plasma is found mostly in outerspace and is rare on earth. If scientists can find out how to control it it can be very useful and can possibly solve many of our problems with energy. Some substances can go through each of the other phases though. Water can be a solid liquid and a gas.