Silly Putty® FAQs
(Frequently Asked Questions):

Seems like everybody's got a FAQ nowadays -- we figured we'd better put one together for Silly Putty®, since quite a few of you call or write with queries about our favorite bouncy, stretchy, pick-up-the-comics fun stuff. So, here goes!

1. So, just what is Silly Putty?

Silly Putty is a unique, classic toy that kids (and adults) have been playing with for 50 years. When rolled into a ball, it bounces. When pulled slowly, it stretches. When pulled quickly, it snaps off cleanly. It can pick up certain comics and newsprint. And, it comes in a plastic egg.

2. What is Silly Putty made from?

Silly Putty is made primarily from silicone and color pigments. Silly Putty was discovered in 1943 by James Wright who mixed boric acid and silicone oil together. Colors are also added to Silly Putty to create a broad array of fun shades. The combination creates a "solid liquid" which can be molded, stretched and bounced.

3. Where did Silly Putty come from?

A man-eating flowering plant from the deepest, darkest jungles of the Amazon...only kidding. Silly Putty was discovered in 1943 by scientist James Wright, who was working on a synthetic rubber substitute for General Electric during World War II. While the mixture of silicone oil and boric acid was a dud as a rubber substitute, the substance did have some unique properties. Wright found that it could be molded, stretched and bounced.

No practical use for this "bouncing putty" was found until 1949, when a toy shop owner was handed a piece at a party. Her advertising consultant, Peter Hodgson, convinced her to include one ounce pieces of the strange substance in her Block Shop holiday toy catalog. With only a simple description, bouncing putty outsold the catalog's hundred of items except one - a 50 cent box of Crayola® crayons. Certain of its marketing potential, Hodgson, already $12,000 in debt, borrowed $147 to buy another batch. After studying 15 names he settled on one - Silly Putty. He packaged the pliable plaything in red plastic eggs and debuted Silly Putty at the 1950 International Toy Fair in New York City . The rest, as they say, is history.

4. How much Silly Putty is made each day?

Binney & Smith, manufacturer of Silly Putty, make over 20,000 "eggs" a day at its plant in Pennsylvania. That translates into 600 pounds of Silly Putty each day.

5. How many eggs have been made since 1950?

More than 300 million Silly Putty or 4500 tons of the real solid liquid - enough to make a wad the size of the Goodyear® blimp have been made since 1950.

6. How many colors does Silly Putty come in?

Today, Silly Putty is available in its original pinkish color, a brighter pink, blue, yellow, and orange; four glow-in-the dark colors (green, pink, yellow and blue); three changeable colors (purple to pink, orange to yellow and forest green to bright green); and, for its 50th Anniversary, Silly Putty is available for the first time in commemorative metallic gold.

7. How does color-changing Silly Putty work?

Here's the scientific skinny on color-changing Silly Putty: "Silly Putty uses thermochromic (a big word for color change through temperature change) to change color. Changeable Silly Putty is formulated with a base color, to which an additional thermochromic dye is added. When the putty is handled, body heat causes a chemical reaction that makes the thermochromic dye disappear, leaving only the base color. (For example, purple to pink change happens when the base color is pink and the thermochromic dye is blue. Take blue from purple and you get pink.) When the putty cools, the dye "recongeals," returning the color.

8. How high can Silly Putty bounce?

Prominent physicists and basement experimenters have been pondering over this one for years. Several treatises have been written on the subject, highlighting the super bouncing properties of Silly Putty.

How high it bounces depends on how high you drop it from, the surface you're bouncing off of, and the size and shape of your Silly Putty piece. Our scientists have done no conclusive testing on Silly Putty's bouncability. However, a quick test in this writer's office finds that a standard size piece of Silly Putty, rolled into a near-perfect ball and dropped onto a standard faux wood desktop from three feet, will bounce back about two and a half feet on its first bounce. Your results may vary.

9. Does it still pick up comics?

For years, Silly Putty was great at picking up images from comics pages and newspapers. While Silly Putty hasn't changed since 1950, printing processes have prohibiting Silly Putty to lift up images. The Wall Street Journal still works great. Try pressing some on to Bill Gates and morphing him into Tom Cruise.

10. What else can you do with Silly Putty?

There are a zillion uses for Silly Putty, 101 of which were humorously cataloged by author Linda Sunshine in her book, "101 Uses for Silly Putty." Some of those uses include: Cleaning typewriter and computer keys; plugging leaks; removing lint from clothing; leveling the leg of a wobbly table; helping smokers kick the habit; as a stress reliever; and as a forearm strengthener. Do you have a silly use for Silly Putty? Be sure to enter our "50 Silliest Uses for Silly Putty" contest at this link.

11. I know Silly Putty can stretch, but I've also heard you can break Silly Putty cleanly. How do you do it?

Because of the molecular structure of Silly Putty, when you pull it slowly, it stretches like taffy. However, if you pull it with a quick, hard yank, it will snap off cleanly. Believe it or not, Silly Putty in theory is a liquid. In science-speak it is referred to as a "dilatant" compound which means the more pressure you apply to it, the more it acts like a solid. When a small amount of pressure is applied to Silly Putty, it stretches, but when a larger amount of pressure is applied, like pulling it apart quickly, it acts like a solid and snaps.

12. Why does Silly Putty come in an egg?

You know, we're a little cloudy on that, too. Some say its because the egg shape provides the ultimate package for this unique liquid solid. Others believed Peter Hodgson, the marketing mastermind behind Silly Putty did his most creative thinking over scrambled eggs and bacon. Still others say its because, well, eggs are kind of silly in their own right...

While we can't confirm it, here's a little history we've picked up along the way: When Hodgson first packaged Silly Putty, all he had available were plastic Easter eggs. Toy buyers everywhere fell in love with the egg, and it stuck. Think about it -- what else (besides yolks and whites and certain panty hose) come in eggs? Pretty distinctive, no?

13. Can you explain the Silly Putty mystique?

Well, we can try. Maybe it's because it comes in an egg (see above) or in a bunch of cool colors. It's been around since your parents were kids, and we all had one when we were kids (many of us still do!). It's part of our collective consciousness, like the Slinky, the yo-yo, the 64 box of Crayola crayons, the Barbie doll, the GI Joe, the Matchbox and Hot Wheels cars.

Most importantly, though, even after 50 years, it's still a ton of fun. You buy a Silly Putty egg to have fun -- no practical agendas here! It stretches and it breaks -- how cool is that? You can mold it into any shape and bounce it high. The mystique of Silly Putty will continue as long as there are kids -- and folks who think like kids -- are looking for something uniquely fun.