Chemistry of cereal in milk In a nearly finished bowl of oat cereal, why do the pieces of cereal stick together? I figure that since they are composed of starches it could be hydrogen bonding. Is this true or is there some other reason?
Surface tension, not hydrogen bonding, is the primary phenomenon which causes cereal rings such as Cheerios to adhere together while floating in milk.

The total linear perimeter of the 3-phase cereal-air-milk interface is minimized when pieces cling together.

Here are some links:


http://www.livescience.com/9350-cereal-science-floating-objects-stick.html
http://phys.org/news/2010-09-well-known-effect-breakfast-cereal-physicists.html
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cheerios_effect