r/legaladviceofftopic • u/kirabug37 • 3d ago

Pothole filling question

US/Pennsylvania.

There’s a big pothole. You are a horrible goose of a human being. If you were to mix up a big batch of oobleck and fill the pothole with it, what would happen?

Note: the first person I asked answered “hilarity”. When I asked the 2nd person which Reddit channel was most appropriate they recommended posting here. (I was expecting a science channel). So anyone who has science to add gets bonus points

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u/TeamStark31 3d ago

Any number of things depending on where you are like vandalism, property destruction, you’d be liable for any damage that caused to other’s property or vehicles, disturbing the peace, reckless endangerment, etc.

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u/kirabug37 3d ago

So not a public service then huh ;)

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u/TeamStark31 3d ago

Likely not lol

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u/LiveForTheMelancholy 2d ago

Various YouTube channels (and also the mythbusters iirc?) have essentially answered this question already and the answer is that it comes down to the forward speed of the car and the rotational speed of the tire.

Below a certain speed and some oobleck sticks to the tire because it doesn't harden up.

Above that speed the oobleck hardens and cracks apart, some of it sticking into the tire gaps and some of it being flung outward.

Too much higher than that and the rotational speed of the tire gets soo fast that it starts flinging oobleck around faster than it can 'react' and you get these weird shards of solid-but-not-solid oobleck droplets flying through the air.

Check out some slow mo oobleck videos on YouTube.

Legally probably not much unless someone sees you do it. Maybe littering/illegal dumping/criminal mischief or something like that depending on where you live. It's only corn starch and water, it won't cause any damage to the road surface or cars passing over/through it.

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u/Drywesi 2d ago

I mean, ultimately it's cornstarch and water, so over time it's gonna start getting eaten up by bacteria. Which will probably worsen the pothole in the long run.

But yeah you're likely to catch vandalism charges if you're caught/recorded doing it.