A spot of science for you!

Daisy's just home from walking the dogs and, if you'll excuse the personal remark, her lip gloss was very sticky, even to the extent of getting stray strands of hair sticking to her face - because of the lip gloss???

Now, Daisy is no science-buff, but this action made her wonder, is her lip gloss just old i.e. past its best use-by-date, or is it the actual properties of the item which encourages this state of "stickiness"?

"I mean, should I just have given the little tube a good shake and squeeze before using it?" she queries, "and yes, I do know it's meant to be a little sticky!"

Daisy posed this problem to the home folks, when she and the dogs returned  from their amble, and was introduced to the theory of thixotropic liquids; liquids which are thick, but which can and do become thin, when they are shaken or agitated. Then there are false thixotropic liquids, known as pseudoplastic fluids, which require very little agitation to render them thin and pourable; and ketchup is such a fluid. 

Daisy remembers once when somebody she was working with  wanted to add some liquid to a bottle of ketchup, just so that it would pour more easily, but she was prevented from doing so, because this action would have altered the texture of the sauce.  If only we'd known back then that it just needed a good shake to get it moving!

Of course, let's  face it we probably did, but  not for the right reason?

Thank goodness somebody at home was able to give Daisy a science lesson!

"Gosh, didn't Team GB have a golden day?!"

Daisy loved the Dressage event at Greenwich, thinking both rider and horse moved together with the beauty of a ballet dancer.  Wonderful.  And then our Dressage team won Gold for their performance.
Our first Dressage Gold Medal for sixty years.  Stupendous.

Then Alistair Brownlee won Gold for the men's final of the Triathlon and his brother, Jonathan, won the Bronze medal.

Sir Chris Hoy won his 6th Gold medal for his Kierin performance, becoming the first British athlete to win six gold medals.  If this is to be his  last Olympic Games, we shall miss watching him perform.

For Laura Trott, who won the Omnium Gold medal, this was  her second gold medal for these Games, and a splendid achievement.

For Victoria Pendleton, on her Silver Medal award for her cycling individual sprint, many congratulations on all her achievements.   She retires from track racing today and we will certainly miss seeing her in future competitions.

And Nick Dempsey's Silver medal for sailing at Weymouth.  What a glorious tally for this Eleventh Day of the London Olympics.

"Whatever shall we do when the Games  end?" sighs Daisy.

Daisy