Silly String has been used by American and British troops in Iraq as a technique for finding hidden traps. Invisible wires can be found by spraying Silly String down halls or through doors. Silly String is light enough to land on these invisible wires without breaking them, which may set off explosives, and let soldiers know where these traps may lie.
Researchers knew nothing about Silly String, except for who introduced it, Julius Samann, in 1969. In 1972 the United States Patent disagreed with researchers and described Silly String as an aerosol liquid that becomes a slightly tacky spring when sprayed. The Patent said that the inventors of Silly String are Robert P. Cox and Leonard A. Fish from Wham-O Manufacturing Company, which also made the Hula Hoop and the Frisbee.
Silly String is made up of several different chemicals. It starts out in the can as a liquid and becomes a never ending string when it is sprayed. This string is light and somewhat adhesive and cohesive. It sticks to walls and clothing, and it stays together in one long piece. However, it is more cohesive and it takes more fore to pull it apart than to pull if off of a wall. The foam and the skin of Silly String is made of three main ingredients, resin, a surfactant, and a propellant. The resin forms the structure of the strand, and keeps the strands from falling apart. The surfactant helps the resin turn in to a foam and expand. The propellant forces ingredients out of the aerosol can, without this there would not be any foam. The high pressure is needed in the can to keep the Silly String a liquid in the can, because with normal air pressure the propellant would make it a gas.
It is interesting to know how Silly String works because it is such a well known and highly used product. Also, knowing that such a simple toy can be used to save the lives of our soldiers.
5 comments:
I enjoyed reading about how silly string works, and I was interested to find out that soliders use the silly string. You did a great job summarizing everything, and it really seems like your are an expert on that information. Good Job.
I never knew the other uses of silly string. I was very entrigued by your story and the topic choice was great. Most people have only used silly string as a prank but who knew it was used to save peoples lives. Very nice story.
I thought silly string was only used to have fun with but it is pretty cool to know that it actually has uses that can save people's lives. Good summary.
Wow this was really interesting. I had no idea silly string was used for so much and had such a purpose. Especially the part about our troops. I always thought it was fun stuff. I enjoyed reading your blog and it was very informative, entertaining, and super well written. Nice work :)
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