Funny Putty: Synthesizing a Polymer

Silly Putty©, sometimes known as silicone bouncing putty, is properly called Dow Corning 3179 dilatant
compound. A combination of boric acid and silicone oil, it was discovered quite by accident in 1943 by a
scientist trying to make synthetic rubber. The discoverer was amazed to see that this new compound
would stretch and bounce further than rubber, even at extreme temperatures. Also, the substance would
copy anything printed in ink.

However, no immediate practical use for the material was found. It wasn't until 1949 when an
unemployed ad executive came across the strange substance at a party. He saw its potential as a children's
toy, and bought the production rights. He began producing it, renaming it it Silly Putty, and packaged it in
plastic eggs 'because Easter was on the way'. Soon, Silly Putty was a sensational, multi-million-dollar
seller.

The mixture of Elmer's Glue (polyvinyl acetate) with borax and water produces a putty-like material
called a polymer. A polymer is a long chain of molecules. (Picture in your mind strands of cooked
spaghetti). If the polymer chains slide past each other easily, then the substance acts like a liquid, because
the molecules flow. If the molecules hook together at a few places along the strand, then the substance
behaves like a rubbery solid, called an cross-linked polymer. Borax is the chemical that is responsible for
hooking the glue's molecules together to form the putty-like material.

Calculate the Formula Mass of the two reactants in this reaction.

Material Formula Formula Mass Structure
Polyvinyl
C4H6O2
Acetate

Borax Na2B4O7

Elmer’s Glue is made

up of polyvinyl
acetate, which reacts
with water to some
extent to replace
some of the acetate
groups with OH
(alcohol) groups. The
B-OH groups on the
borax molecules react
with the acetate
groups on the glue
molecules (relatively
long polymer chains)
to eliminate acetic
acid and form new
bonds between the borax and two glue molecules. The linking of two glue molecules via one borax
molecule is called polymer cross-linking and it makes a bigger polymer molecule, which is now less
liquid-like and more solid.

© 2010 W. Laufer
The bottom figure shows that
many of these borax cross-
links occur to “glom” together
many polymer molecules
turning them into a pliable
solid “funny putty”.

This really isn’t the silly putty

you buy in the store, since it
will dry out. Real silly putty
is an organosiloxane polymer
that doesn’t have any water in
it so it doesn’t dry out.

Procedure:
1. Pour 170ml
borax/water
solution to a 500ml
beaker.
2. Slowly squirt in the
Elmer’s Glue in a
thin stream while
stirring.
3. Vigorously mix
together the glue and borax water mixture with a stir rod for about 1 minute while
keeping the polymerizing glue “silly putty” in the borax water solution.
4. Pull the blob out of the borax water and kneed it and see if any pockets of liquid glue still
exist.
5. If you see liquid glue squirting out of the “silly putty”, then it has not yet fully reacted
with the borax water. Put it back into the solution and kneed it up some more while
submerged.
6. Once it has fully reacted, pull it out of the solution kneed it for a couple minutes and
gently pat it dry with a paper towel. Dry off your hands with a paper towel and it is ready
to play with!
7. Clean your beaker and dispose of your waste.

Store it in a zip-lock plastic storage bag to keep it from drying out.

If it gets into clothes or hair, it can be easily washed out with warm water.

© 2010 W. Laufer