Ketchup’s Shear Mystery

June 28, 2002 at 12:16 pm

Shifting suddenly from a thick paste to a runny liquid when shaken or jarred, ketchup is one of many complex fluids that share a property called “shear thinning.” A NASA Web page highlights an upcoming space experiment aimed at elucidating the basic physics of these fluids.

Go to: http://science.nasa.gov/headlines/y2002/07jun_elastic_fluids.htm