Is mixing a non-Newtonian fluid and hairspray dangerous?

Question

I want to decorate some jeans with oobleck, lol. I got the idea when my friend dropped some on his jeans and it dried. I was hoping that hairspray would work like it does with pastel, and keep it from washing off or rubbing off. if it just stains permanently, that works too. I'm afraid to start working because it might get the FBI and whatnot on my case, and that's not fun! xD

jk.

a little help with this so I don't have to ask my dad and get an answer non relevant to the question...

Answer 1

No, you won't get the FBI on your case, there's nothing illegal in hairspray nor can it be used to make illegal substances. Unfortunately, your idea won't work. You are correct that both hairspray solution and oobleck are non-newtonian fluids, but hairspray solution has the opposite flow behavior than oobleck. Oobleck gets thicker (this is, the viscosity increases) as more force is applied; whereas hairspray solution actually gets thinner (the viscosity decreases). This is why hairspray can be shot out of a can, and, given enough oobleck, a person can run on top of it (as demonstrated on Mythbusters). The reverse can't be done - oobleck can't be shot out of a can, and no one could run on a poolful of hairspray solution.

The technical term for oobleck's behavior is "dilatent flow".

The technical term for hairspray solution's behavior is "pseudoplastic flow".