What if: cornstarch

Randall Monroe is the creator of XKCD, a sometimes not-quite-school-appropriate cartoon that involves a mixture of computer-, engineering-, math-, and science-based humor (along with a bit of Randall's personal life mixed in here and there). Randall Munroe comes by his humor honestly as he's a former NASA roboticist and programmer.

One of Munroe's many side projects is What-If in which he answers ridiculous questions using solid science research. Most of the questions are absolutely ridiculous - how would a small plane fly in the atmosphere of Jupiter?, is it possible to create a jetpack by firing machine guns downward? - but every now and again he gives us a wonderful materials science question.

Recently we got "How much cornstarch could I rinse down the drain before unpleasant things start to happen?"

I'm absolutely thrilled that Munroe eventually makes the connection between the conrstarch and the great Boston Molasses Flood of 1919.

PS - personally, my favorite question had nothing to do with materials science.