An extra special package of three varieties of silly putty arrived in the mail today from Putty World: black magnetic putty, heat sensitive putty that changes color with temperature and glow in the dark putty. Greenbean is especially fascinated with this stuff. Gingerly reaching out to touch it in her careful and gentle way. Although, she doesn't know quite what to make of the glow in the dark putty. She looked adorable with the soft glow lighting up her face in the dark as she approached to investigate. The putty was bright enough to completely disrupt our night vision. After a few moments of having it out of sight, we started noticing tiny, tiny flecks glowing all over the place, on a shoulder, on the pillow. Mark turned to me in the dark and I couldn't stop laughing, he made the mistake of putting the putty close to his nose. The short scruffy hairs where he needs to shave above his lip were speckled with minute pieces of glowing putty. So small that they were more easily seen out of the corner of the eye. I looked into the history of this strange substance. The putty was an invention accident that was produced during experiments attempting to create synthetic rubber during the 1940's. James Wright had combined boric acid and silicone oil, resulting in the odd glob of goo. The substance was tested by Wright and a number of other scientists to see if it had the properties to replace rubber. Even though it showed promise, having a much higher melting point and resistance to mold, It was far too stretchy and bouncy to serve any practicle or industrial use. Eventually the putty was passed along, from scientist to scientist, to scientist family and friends, until it reached the hands of a toy store owner who then marketed the substance as 'bouncing putty.' In 1950 the flopped toy was scooped by another individual who sold it as the 'silly putty' (marked as "the real solid liquid") we know and love today. It was discovered that the putty could copy images out of comics, although since there has been a change in the printing process, this can't be done any more. Composition of Silly Putty: 65% - Dimethyl Siloxane, hydroxy-terminated polymers with boric acid 17% - Silica, quartz crystalline 9% - Thixotrol ST 4% - Polydimethylsiloxane 1% - Decamethyl cyclopentasiloxane 1% - Glycerine 1% - Titanium Dioxide