Making Silly Putty® Bounce

Everyone knows Silly Putty bounces. When you shape it into a ball and bounce it off of a hard, smooth surface, Silly Putty bounces better than just about any regular rubber ball.

Cooling Silly Putty improves its "bouncability." Shape your Silly Putty into a ball and bounce it. Measure how high it bounces. Then, place the ball in the freezer for about an hour. While it's still cold, bounce it the same way you did when it was warm. And the result?

According to our scientists, Silly Putty has a rebound of 80 percent, meaning it will bounce back 80 percent of the height it's dropped -- pretty impressive, no?

We've seen reports of people bouncing very large balls of Silly Putty from several stories up. While their findings have not been corroborated in the Silly Putty labs (and we don't recommend trying this at home), the vanguard Silly Putty experimenters found that the ball of Silly Putty bounced once, then shattered into many small pieces!

| Floating Silly Putty | Making It Bounce | Silly Putty Running |

| Squishing Silly Putty | Stretching and Snapping |