Help me come up with another word for 'runniness' to help explain the concept of viscosity.

[thedolly]

So far I have 'gloopiness' and 'gooeiness' but they are both a bit too informal.

I have been helping DD (yr4) with her science homework and the teacher has used the word 'runniness' in brackets after the word viscosity. I think this is conceptually misleading as 'high' runniness does not = high viscosity.

Thanks.

:P right back at ya captain mf

Clingy is good JoeJoe - clinginess is definitely better conceptually than runniness

EE - thixotrophic is indeed a great word

Thanks for the input.

ooh, electric elephant, thixotropic! one of my favourite words
wet sand on the beach!!

I think thickness probably would work btw in the context of the rest of the text describing the experiment?

What's wrong with gloopiness? That was my first thought too and describes it perfectly - if you want a 'formal' word, then it's viscosity, surely?

You might want to take a look at the guidelines for teaching this unit on the qca government website. As teachers, at a year 4 stage, we are advised to use the word runniness to describe a liquid's viscosity. Whilst not perhaps terribly scientifically accurate, you have to remember that this is a topic for 8 year olds with a range of abilities. This topic is usually revisited in Year 5 and Year 6, where the topic is built upon in more detail.

www.standards.dfes.gov.uk/schemes2/science/sci4d/

I agree with the captain -- that's why we have the word viscosity as a relatively formal word for "lack of runniness". Going less formal with gloopiness is probably your best option (you could use "thickness", I suppose, but it doesn't quite capture the nuances of the concept. Or "syrupiness", but that's not much more formal than gloopiness).

''This lead DD to assume that the liquid that had the highest runniness (water) also had the highest viscosity. I think that was a fair assumption but obviously wrong.''

sorry i know im being dim but how come viscosity doesnt equal runniness?? Why is this wrong then?

Not disagreeeing BTW just wondering??

Water has high runniness but low viscosity.

Treacle has low runniness but high viscosity.

Viscosity is how... well.. gloopy something is; how well it holds together.

thanks for that daisy71

It is important to keep simple concepts simple and I think the use of the word 'runniness' on this occasion complicates things, guidelines or no guidelines.

There are better more than adequate alternatives to 'runniness' that will allow the concept to be developed without confusion.

It may seem trivial but these are the kinds of issues that cause children to disengage with particular subjects.

[grrrr] at the guidelines.

glad to have been of assistance stealthsquiggle

Thanks Port and Lemon...so basically as i thought viscosity does mean runniness. Just not the way round that the OPs DD had written....FWIW i hadnt read that sentance correctly hence my confusion!

Someone suggested pourability before...thats a good descriptor of it. Gloopiness implies thickness whereas all liquids have a viscosity whether high or low.