How To: Make Glowing Oobleck from Potatoes & Tonic Water

Make Glowing Oobleck from Potatoes & Tonic Water

This magical, glowing mixture is very strange, with an equally strange name (Oobleck), because it feels like moldable pizza dough in your hands one second, and like liquified goo the next.

Even stranger is the fact that this glowing "magical mud" is made from things we eat, specifically potatoes and tonic water. In this project, I'm going to show you how to make it.

First, you'll need to extract the starch from your potatoes, and the video above outlines a very simple process for doing this.

Tonic water adds the "glow" when held under a black light.

The starch powder, mixed with tonic water, creates a fluorescent magic mud, and you can make it at home with your ordinary garden potatoes.

If you liked this project, check out some of my others here on WonderHowTo or over at thekingofrandom.com.

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6 Comments

Do you need to add the tonic water for this to work? can you just have the goo without the glow?

1 part water
1.5 to 2 parts cornstarch
Small amount of food coloring (optional)

Can you possibly share the science behind this all ? I mean, I know about the quinine but..

wow
im gonna do this one in our project!
i hope my teacher like it!
good luck to me!

does it work with potato starch store bought? I don't want to go through that whole process

does it work with any starch?

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