• Question: Can you run on custard? if so why?

    Asked by daleawh to Helen, Jenni, Mark, Martin, Stu on 23 Jun 2011.
    • Photo: Helen O'Connor

      Helen O'Connor answered on 23 Jun 2011:

      According to something I saw on QI once, yes you can.

      Custard is a non-Newtonian liquid – this means it doesnt behave like most liquids do (with a constant viscosity) and sometimes acts like a liquid, and sometimes like a solid. If you apply a lot of pressure it acts like a solid, so running across custard fast would work. Walking slowly would not and you would sink as there would not be enough pressure.

      I don’t know if you can watch youtube videos at school, but here’s a Brainiac experiment doing it

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