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Reprinted by permission of Dick Berg, University of Maryland, for use on this website.

The demonstrations contained and referenced herein are listed for the purposes of cataloging and describing physics demonstrations which should be conducted only under the direction of a trained instructional support professional or physicist. These demonstrations are not presented for the purpose of being conducted by persons unconnected to this Facility and/or persons not consulting with or being supervised by the recognized instructional support professional or physicist and his/her staff. The University is responsible only for those demonstrations carried out using its own equipment using established safety and scheduling policies, and bears no responsibility for those choosing to use this source material for their own purposes. All demonstrations described and contained herein are public domain, and can also be found in reference materials in libraries, bookstores, and electronic sources.

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The unusual properties of the gel can be seen in two ways.  One is to start pouring the gel from one beaker to the other.  Once the pour has been started the gel will continue to siphon even if the pouring beaker is turned upright. If you look closely you will see that the gel moves up the side of the beaker in a thin film which thickens to a strand as it falls to the other beaker.

The second way to demonstrate this is with an egg beater or mixer.  First use corn syrup and the mixer.  Turn the mixer up to the first speed and show that the corn syrup is thrown away from the beaters.  Then do the same thing with the polyethylene gel.  This time notice that the liquid not only climbs the beaters but that eventually the whole gel mass is on the beaters. 

Set the silly putty on a very solid surface. HIT THE PUTTY VIOLENTLY WITH THE HAMMER!!! Due to the fact that silly putty has a lower viscosity for slow shear rates and a high viscosity for fast shear rates the putty will shatter like a large crystal.