Making Putty Snap, Crackle, and Pop!

In physics, energy is always conserved. Any input to a system equals the output of that system. Nature loves balance and the Laws of Putty are no exception. All stress relieved by making Thinking Putty noises is transferred directly into stress gained by your coworkers from having to sit near you.

Step 1: Snap

To make snapping noises you need little bubbles that you can form reliably and pop at will. Use the picture below to guide you.

Step 2: Crackle

Excellent cracking noises can be obtained through a different putty manipulation. Stretch the Thinking Putty into strands about 6" to 12" in length and fold it back onto itself. Without squeezing the resulting strand, stretch it again. Repeat this about 20 times.

Each time you stretch the putty you are adding small air bubbles between the two layers. You may even notice the color of the Thinking Putty gets lighter as a result of all the air trapped inside.

Now, lightly and slowly make a lump of Thinking Putty you can squeeze in your hand...wait for the prime moment...and squeeze away.

If you got it right you'll get to enjoy a continuous crackling as all the tiny air bubbles are released!

Step 3: Pop!

Making extremely loud popping noises with Thinking Putty is very fun and somewhat hit or miss. The technique described below produces nothing about 10% of the time, a decent pop about 70%, and a monstrous echoing pop about 20% of the time. At least that's Crazy Aaron's average...can you do better?

Form the Thinking Putty into a long, deep boat shape about one finger wide.

Now, use your fingertips to fold the tops of the boat shut while maintaining as much air in the boat as possible. Seal off the ends securely and slowly and carefully fold the Thinking Putty back onto itself to form a small lump.

Now hold the Thinking Putty in your fist and quickly squeeze down, force the air out as rapidly as you can. Pop! or, if you are really lucky, Bang!