Painting a picture of viscosity

Part learning, part fun, part de-stress—chemical engineering students in Rebecca Harmon’s fluid mechanics class (CBE 2420, 2nd year level) had an opportunity to "paint like Van Gogh" one afternoon last semester in the Unit Operations laboratory.

With a lens of product design, the class first watched a demonstration illustrating why artists choose paints of varying viscosities to produce different effects.

Students then got busy painting their own mini masterpieces, creatively applying paints with an array of consistencies to explore viscosity and Newtonian/non-Newtonian fluids.

As if straight out of the Dr. Seuss book Bartholomew and the Oobleck, students mixed up gooey pans of white "oobleck" (otherwise known as a non-Newtonian fluid made from a mixture of cornstarch and water). They then immersed and retrieved a golf ball from the goopy white mixture. 

The class was intended to improve intuition about what materials thicken or thin out and how viscous materials are relative to other common household items such as water, honey, and oil.

Students also toured Professor Joshua Sangoro’s rheology lab to learn about current research equipment used to study fluid properties and mixing, and were shown how to scientifically twist open an Oreo cookie using a rheometer!

Harmon joined the William G. Lowrie Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering as an assistant professor of practice in October, 2022.