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Quicksand

What You Need

Newspaper
Measuring cup
1 1/4 cups cornstarch
1 cup water
Large bowl
Spoon
2 tablespoons ground coffee

What to Do
Cover the tabletop with newspaper. Combine the cornstarch and water in the bowl and stir until the mixture looks like a thick and sticky paste. Lightly sprinkle the ground coffee on top of the mixture to give it a dry, even look.
Make a fist and pound on the surface of the quicksand. Then lightly push your fingers down into the mixture.

What Happens
When you hit the surface of the mixture with your fist, the quicksand supports your weight, but when you push your fingers into the mixture, they easily sink to the bottom of the bowl. The coffee grounds make the mixture look deceptively smooth and dry, much like real quicksand.

Why It Works
The cornstarch-water mixture is a hydrosol—a solid dispersed in a liquid. When you punch the quicksand, your fist forces the long starch molecules closer together, trapping the water between the starch chains to form a semirigid structure. When the pressure is released, the cornstarch flows again.

Bizarre Facts

Many people have lost their lives sinking into quicksand—a thick body of sand grains mixed with water that appears to be a dry, hard surface. Although it looks as if it can be walked on, quicksand cannot support heavy weight.
Cornstarch is the starch found in corn. All green plants manufacture starch through photosynthesis to serve as a metabolic reserve, but it wasn't discovered until 1824 that Thomas Kingsford developed a technique for separating starch from corn, founding Kingsford Corn Starch.
Cornstarch is an antidote for iodine poisoning.
Cornstarch makes excellent spray starch for clothing. Mix one tablespoon of cornstarch and one pint of cold water. Stir to dissolve the cornstarch completely. Fill a spray bottle and use as you would any starch, making sure to shake vigorously before each use.
Cornstarch makes an excellent substitute for baby powder and talcum powder. Cornstarch is actually more absorbent then talcum powder, but apply it lightly since it does cake more readily. (Talc, incidentally, is carcinogenic, particularly when inhaled or used by women in the genital region. Many baby powders contain talc.)
Cornstarch absorbs excess polish from furniture and cars. After polishing furniture or a car, sprinkle on a little cornstarch and rub with a soft cloth.
Cornstarch has twice the thickening power of flour. When a gravy, sauce, soup or stew recipe calls for flour, use half as much cornstarch to thicken. One tablespoon of cornstarch equals two tablespoons of flour.

Think Quick
If you ever get caught in deep quicksand, fall flat on your back and stretch your arms out at right angles to your body—so you float on the quicksand. You can then roll over onto firm ground.
Viva Quicksand!
When Mexican revolutionary general Rodolfo Fierro, marching toward Sonora with Pancho Villa's troops in 1917, decided to take shortcut, his horse got caught in quicksand. Fierro, loaded down with gold, sank to his death.

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