Chemistry

Experiments on different kinds of milk have revealed that many plant-based milks are non-Newtonian fluids

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Just a splash of the non-Newtonian, please

Jack Andersen/Getty Images

The physics of plant-based milks is strange. Researchers are only now beginning to understand it, and they hope that doing so could result in better beverages.

Vivek Sharma at the University of Illinois Chicago and his colleagues found that most plant milks flow and drip in more complex and unusual ways than their animal counterparts.

The team looked at eight different milks – cow, goat, pea, soy, oat, almond, coconut and rice – and studied their viscosity, or how difficult it is for them to flow.…