Silly Putty was an accident! A WWII chemist tried making rubber… instead, he made this stretchy, bouncy blob we love today.
Try making your own at home with glue, starch + food coloring… science you can squish!
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Transcript: Did you know that Silly Putty, that stretchy, bouncy blob we all love, was actually a mistake?
Back in the 1940s, during World War II, scientists were trying to invent a synthetic rubber. Why? Because real rubber was in short supply and badly needed for things like tires, boots, and machinery.
A chemist named James Wright mixed boric acid with silicone oil, and ended up with a strange goo. It wasn’t the rubber he was looking for… but it bounced, stretched, and picked up ink from newspapers!
At first, no one knew what to do with it. But a toy marketer saw its potential. In 1950, Silly Putty hit the toy stores and kids went wild for it.
So, what’s going on here? Silly Putty is a polymer, a chain of molecules linked together, like beads on a string. That gives it special powers!
Smack it hard, and it bounces like a rubber ball. Let it ooze slowly, and it flows like honey. It’s called a non-Newtonian fluid, which means it doesn’t act like a normal solid or liquid.
And here’s the best part, you can make your own at home! Just mix glue, water, and starch. The starch connects the glue molecules together, forming your very own stretchy, squishy polymer.
Here’s the recipe:
1. Mix 1 part (1/4 cup) liquid starch to 2 parts (1/2 cup) elmer’s all purpose glue
2. Add food coloring and stir until most of the liquid is absorbed
3. When the mix is mostly solid, start kneading with your hands to make silly putty!
4. Try rolling the putty into a ball and bouncing it!
5. Try sculpting the putty into a fun shape!
So next time you stretch some putty, remember… you’re holding a blob of accidental science in your hands!