Origin

• Silly Putty was invented by accident by a researcher at General Electric's laboratory in New Haven, Connecticut in 1943. He was experimenting with forms of synthetic rubber. He decided to sell it as a toy after not being able to find any practical use for it. It was placed on the market in 1949.
  
  

Ingredients

• The formula for making Silly Putty has been the same since the beginning. It is a polymer made from mixing silicone oil and boric acid.
  
  

Function

• Silly Putty can be wadded up, stretched out, and pressed against a newspaper so that the ink comes off on the putty, replicating the words and images. When rolled into a ball, it is known for its high degree of bounciness. The Apollo astronauts used it to hold their tools in place, instead of having them float through the air in zero gravity.
  
  

Features

• As all users of Silly Putty have experienced, it is a "dilatant compound," which means that it is viscous but becomes solid when pressure is applied to it. It is non-toxic and hypo-allergenic.
  
  

Size

• In the beginning, Silly Putty eggs contained 1 oz. of putty. Today's eggs only hold 13.3 grams.
  
  

Fun fact

• More than 4,500 tons of Silly Putty have been sold throughout the world. Six hundred pounds are manufactured each day by Binney & Smith of Easton, Pennsylvania.