Description
As a bouncing putty, Silly Putty is noted for its unusual characteristics: it bounces, but breaks when given a sharp blow; it can also flow like a liquid and will form a puddle given enough time. Silly Putty and most other retail putty products have thixotropic agents added to reduce the flow and enable the putty to hold its shape.
The original coral-colored Silly Putty is composed of 65% dimethyl siloxane (hydroxy-terminated polymers with boric acid), 17% silica (crystalline quartz), 9% Thixatrol ST (castor oil derivative), 4% polydimethylsiloxane, 1% decamethyl cyclopentasiloxane, 1% glycerine, and 1% titanium dioxide.
Silly Putty's unusual flow characteristics are due to the ingredient polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS), a viscoelastic liquid. Viscoelasticity is a type of non-Newtonian flow, characterizing material that acts as a viscous liquid over a long time period but as an elastic solid over a short time period. Because its apparent viscosity increases directly with respect to the amount of force applied, Silly Putty can be characterized as a dilatant fluid.
Silly Putty is also a fairly good adhesive. When newspaper ink was petroleum based, Silly Putty could be used to transfer newspaper images to other surfaces, possibly after introducing distortion. Newer papers with soy-based inks are more resistant to this activity.
Silly Putty will dissolve when in contact with an alcohol; after the alcohol evaporates, the material will not exhibit its original properties.
Generally, Silly Putty is difficult to remove from textured items such as hair and clothing. An alcohol like hand sanitizer can often be used successfully to facilitate the process. Crayola (the maker) suggests WD-40.
If Silly Putty is submerged in warm or hot water, it will become softer and thus "melt" much faster. It also becomes harder to remove small amounts of it from surfaces. After a long period of time, it will return to its original viscosity.
Silly Putty is sold as a 13 g (0.46 oz) piece of plastic clay inside an egg-shaped plastic container. It is available in various colors, including glow-in-the-dark and metallic. The brand is owned by Crayola LLC (formerly the Binney & Smith company), which also owns Crayola crayons. As of July 2009, twenty thousand eggs of Silly Putty are sold daily. Since 1950, more than 300 million eggs of Silly Putty (approximately 4,500 short tons or 4,100 tonnes) have been sold. Other brands offer the material in larger size containers and in a wide variety of colors, such as pink, blue and yellow.
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