The slime-making craze is sweeping school and homes worldwide, and shows no signs of stopping. This edition of Periodic Graphics in Chemical & Engineering News looks at the ingredients and the science behind slime’s gooey properties. You can view the full graphic on the C&EN site here.
Silly putty (or science putty, as it’s sometimes referred to) is an odd material. Stretch it slowly and it happily deforms, and can be molded very easily. However, pull it apart with enough force and it’ll snap clean in two. 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.
