Prompt Cast
The History and Science of Silly String
TLDR Silly string was originally invented as a medical device but later became a popular toy. It is made up of a mixture of ingredients including a resin, surfactant, propellant, solvent, and talc, and has various uses such as detecting tripwires in war zones. However, it has also been banned in certain places due to the cost of cleaning it up and the potential for fights to break out.
Timestamped Summary
00:00
Silly string is a toy that comes in an aerosol can and shoots out a pressurized stream of foamy string that can travel up to 10-12 feet and sticks to things.
04:49
Silly string was originally invented as a medical device, but its creators realized it would make a great toy after accidentally shooting it out of a nozzle and seeing its string-like shape and ability to travel long distances.
09:22
Julius Siman, the inventor of silly string, came into the picture 30 years after its creation when his company bought the rights to make silly string in 1999.
13:57
Silly string is a lightweight and adhesive substance that can stick to various surfaces, but is also easily cleaned up due to its cohesive properties.
18:32
The perfect mixture of ingredients for silly string includes a resin, surfactant, propellant, solvent, and talc, with the resin forming the framework of the strands and the propellant helping to create the foamy exterior.
23:10
Silly string used to contain freon-12, but it was replaced due to its harmful effects on the ozone layer, although some off-brands still use it; the surfactant in silly string is amphiphilic, repelling and attracting water to keep the molecules cohesive and prevent stickiness; the surfactant also serves as an emulsifier for the talc; ammonia and isopropyl alcohol are used as stabilizers in silly string.
28:11
The hosts discuss the possibility that isopropyl alcohol is the unnamed solvent in silly string and mention their previous episode on aerosol cans.
32:39
Silly String can be used to detect tripwires and IEDs in war zones, and there was a story of a soldier's mother collecting 80,000 cans of Silly String to send to the troops, but there were difficulties in shipping it.
37:34
Silly String has been banned in certain places, such as Los Angeles on Halloween, due to the cost of cleaning it up and the potential for fights to break out from people getting sprayed with it.
42:35
Carrying a can of silly string in Los Angeles could result in a misdemeanor charge, a $1000 fine, and up to six months in jail.
Categories:
Society & Culture
