![]() ![]() It’s what’s known as a viscoelastic solid. The properties of PDMS are partly responsible for silly putty’s properties. ![]() ![]() Silicone polymers are, of course, more commonly known for their use in breast implants – and aren’t to be mistaken for the element silicon on its own, which would be a lot more uncomfortable! ![]() PDMS is a type of silicone, a group of polymers defined by the fact that they all contain Si-O-Si units as the basis of their polymeric structure. It’s the polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS for short) that’s a large contributor to the strange properties of silly putty, however. It flows imperceptibly slowly, as if it were a thick liquid, but when rolled up into a ball will bounce if thrown at a hard surface. A closer look at the chemicals that make up silly putty can help us explain this strange behaviour.Ī number of ingredients go into making silly putty: by weight, 65% of it is a compound called polydimethylsiloxane, but colouring agents are also included to give the wide range of colours that the putty comes in. However, pull it apart with enough force and it’ll snap clean in two. Stretch it slowly and it happily deforms, and can be molded very easily. Silly putty (or science putty, as it’s sometimes referred to) is an odd material. ![]()
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June 2023
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