Silly Putty

Details

9DD300 - Raw Materials & Consumables

Demo use only

Instances

Instance #253
G2B20A - Demo West (Duane Physics)
Good - Normal Wear Demo use only

Used in these demonstrations

Steel ball partially sunk into peach-colored Silly Putty in a glass bowl, with putty already overflowing the bowl edges

Earth Interior

A steel ball sinks slowly into Silly Putty over the course of a lecture, modeling Earth's mantle — solid on short timescales (seismic waves propagate through it) but fluid on …
Two pink Silly Putty figures on a gray surface: a short, proportionate figure with bowler hat and smile (left) and the same figure stretched tall and thin (right)

Spaghettification

Demonstrates spaghettification — the stretching of objects by tidal forces near a black hole. Students see how differential gravity across an extended body produces elongation along the radial direction and …
Vaughan claw hammer with wooden handle, two pink Silly Putty balls on green surface — left ball has a smooth indentation from slow pressing, right ball on wooden base board (labeled "Base for Cracking Silly Putty") shows deep cracks from hammer strikes

Viscoelasticity - Silly Putty

Demonstrates rate-dependent mechanical response: Silly Putty flows when pressed slowly but shatters when struck with a hammer. Students see that a material's behavior as "solid" or "liquid" depends on the …

Reserve This Equipment

Demo use only

This equipment supports lecture demonstrations and cannot be reserved directly — it is assigned automatically as part of a demonstration. To use it, request a demo that includes it.