Information About

Rheopecty





CONFUSION BETWEEN RHEOPECTIC AND DILATANT FLUIDS

An incorrect example often used to demonstrate rheopecty is cornflour dissolved in water, which when mixed resemble a very viscous and white fluid. It is a cheap and simple demonstrator, which can be picked up by hand as a near-solid, but flows easily when not under pressure. However cornflour in water is actually a '' Dilatant '' fluid, since it does not show the time-dependent change when sheared required to be labelled rheopectic. This is often and easily confused since the terms are rarely used; a true rheopectic fluid would when shaken stay liquid at first, becoming thicker as shaking continued.