# Solid or Liquid? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [February 19, 2000, 11:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/solid-or-liquid/7654 "2000-02-19T23:25:00Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 7\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![JLPicard](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/858c86/32.png) [@JLPicard](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JLPicard)\ **Post date:** [February 19, 2000, 11:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/solid-or-liquid/7654/1 "2000-02-19T23:25:00Z")
With all the talk about glass being a solid or a liquid, A question has been dancing around my little noodle. Is Silly Putty (the only toy that can read comics) a Solid or a liquid? It will take up the shape of what ever it’s poured into, but it will also break and snap when pulled on. * * * Bad spellers of the world… UNTIE ---
**Author:** ![Kat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/b19c9b/32.png) [@Kat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kat)\ **Post date:** [February 20, 2000, 5:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/solid-or-liquid/7654/2 "2000-02-20T05:51:00Z")
I’ve never been able to “pour” Silly Putty. I haven’t had any to play with for a while, but it’s about the consistency of chewed-up gum and less “squishy” than Gack. * * * Your Official Cat Goddess since 10/20/99. _Thunder’s just a noise, boys; lightning does the work._ --C. Brock ---
**Author:** ![mangeorge](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d78d45/32.png) [@mangeorge](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mangeorge)\ **Post date:** [February 20, 2000, 6:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/solid-or-liquid/7654/3 "2000-02-20T06:46:00Z")
> [@](#): > > Originally posted by Kat: > \*\*I’ve never been able to “pour” Silly Putty. I haven’t had any to play with for a while, but it’s about the consistency of chewed-up gum and less “squishy” than Gack. > > \*\* You can pour silly putty, Kat, it just takes a **looong** time. 🙂 I can’t for the life of me remember the correct term, but it “flattens” on top in it’s container. Remember? Peace, mangeprge * * * I only know two things; I know what I need to know And I know what I want to know Mangeorge, 2000 ---
**Author:** ![MrKnowItAll](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mrknowitall/32/87_2.png) [@MrKnowItAll](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrKnowItAll)\ **Post date:** [February 20, 2000, 6:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/solid-or-liquid/7654/4 "2000-02-20T06:52:00Z")
I bought some Silly Putty about a year ago. It doesn’t seem to “flow” as well as the old stuff. When I was a kid, I used to put it on top of action figures before going to bed to see how it oozed over them overnight. I think it would take about a week now to get the same results. * * * _When someone annoys you it takes 42 muscles to frown. But it takes only 4 muscles to extend your arm and whack them in the head._ ---
**Author:** ![Boris\_B](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/fbc32d/32.png) [@Boris\_B](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Boris_B)\ **Post date:** [February 20, 2000, 11:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/solid-or-liquid/7654/5 "2000-02-20T11:32:00Z")
I would call it a plastic solid. Plastic in the adjective sense - i.e., something capable of flowing plastically … being deformed by three-year-old hands, gravity, etc., but not tending to return to its original shape. Thin metals can have plastic characteristics. A wire antenna with a really heavy pair of shoes on it will bend - not a great analogy for silly putty flow, but the best I can do. I mean, you could make a rainbow out of silly putty, right? And it would sag in the middle, but it could be supported by a central pillar (slowing the sag) or sat upon by a silly putty anvil (accelerating the sag). Another example of plastic solids is the rock in the earth’s mantle - under very high pressure and temperature it can flow. It is not considered a liquid, however, or else it would be called magma. Anyway, marble is “marblized” by pressures, with certain dark rocks getting squished and deformed in a matrix of light rock (sandstone). So the mantle is like silly putty. * * * Any similarity in the above text to an English word or phrase is purely coincidental. ---
**Author:** ![JonF](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/cab0a1/32.png) [@JonF](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JonF)\ **Post date:** [February 20, 2000, 2:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/solid-or-liquid/7654/6 "2000-02-20T14:21:00Z")
Are there two identical threads on this board? Silly putty is a viscoelastic solid. Its response to stress depends an the _amount_ of stress and the _rate_ at which the stress is applied. * * * jrf ---
**Author:** ![Andy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/aeb1de/32.png) [@Andy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Andy)\ **Post date:** [February 21, 2000, 2:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/solid-or-liquid/7654/7 "2000-02-21T14:13:00Z")
I think malleability is the quality this stuff possesses.