WTF is Up with Silly Putty?

Set it down and it flows like a liquid. Pull it slowly and it stretches like rubber. Hit it with a hammer and it shatters like glass. Throw it on the ground and it bounces higher than a rubber ball. It can help heal injuries, stabilize wobbly furniture, clean up dust and pet hair, and lift newsprint off the page, allowing comic-strip characters to be stretched into amusing shapes. It is on permanent display in the Smithsonian Museum and has even flown to the moon and back. It is, of course, that most classic and versatile of toys: the weird and wacky goo known as Silly Putty. For nearly eight decades, this strange rubbery substance in the plastic egg has enchanted children and adults the world over, finding a myriad of applications both amusing and practical. Yet like many other classic toys like the Slinky, Super Soaker, and Play-Doh, Silly Putty owes its existence and enduring popularity to an unlikely accident - and not a bit of clever marketing. This is the stretchy, bouncy, wacky history of one of the world’s favourite playthings. Author: Gilles Messier Host/Editor: Daven Hiskey Producer: Samuel Avila

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