In classical putty experiments, if you hit some Thinking Putty with a hammer, it simply shatters. The force of the impact breaks the bonds between putty molecules before they have any chance to rearrange themselves and flow nicely.

The following experiment is one that you should NOT try at home. I've taken some video for you to enjoy the results but please, PLEASE remember that I could have easily lost digits, limbs or life participating in these shenanigans. I know most people have a pretty good head about them so I'm only talking to those people that think this might be a great idea to try themselves. Don't.

On a bright Saturday morning the Crazy Aaron Crew travelled to the Thinking Putty Research Laboratories Outdoor Experimental Facilities. We assembled what is commonly known in pyromaniac/explosive-nut crowds as a "Potato Cannon". Basically it is a tube of PVC piping attached to larger tube of PVC piping with a screw on end and a piezo-electric lighter from a gas grill. Instructions on how to build one of these are all over the Internet. Obviously you would never want to build something so dangerous so just keep reading.

loadingbarrel.mpg - 1.8MB	loadingbarrel2.mpg - 1.4MB

After putting our "Putty Cannon" together, decorating it with the appropriate Crazy Aaron stickers, and donning the appropriate silly looking safety attire (suits, glasses, etc.) we took a big handful of Thinking Putty, molded it to fit tightly in the barrel, and shot it at an old car hood.

puttyathood.mpg - 1.8MB	puttyathood2.mpg - 1.4MB

"Wow! That was pretty cool!", we said in unison. We all thought the little bits of putty bouncing around were pretty neat. Of course, what would make the video REALLY cool was if somehow we could shoot the Thinking Putty directly at the camera. So we got back in the car and drove to the local hardware store.



Despite the funny looks we got at the hardware store for our suits and glasses, we did successfully explain our goals to the amused sales staff and we walked out with some polycarbonate sheeting. This, they assured us, would withstand the impact forces we were dealing with. Given the cost of my digital video camera I HOPED THEY WERE RIGHT!

We built a frame of sorts for the camera to sit in using a pair of overalls, a child's novelty Pocohontas sock, a soup can, car ramps, an old tire, and the polycarbonate sheet. Then we gave it our first go:

puttyglass1.mpg - 2.4MB

"Wow! That was pretty cool!", we said in unison. Well actually that didn't really work out so well. The impact force transferred all the way through the frame and knocked the camera onto the concrete. Some thought, a little redesign, and voila! Check it out!

puttyglass2.mpg - 2.5MB	puttyglass3.mpg - 0.8MB	puttyglass4.mpg - 2.8MB	puttyglass5.mpg - 2.5MB

"Wow! That was pretty cool!", we said in unison. Our favorite part was that the Thinking Putty actually put permanent dents in the polycarbonate. Note the disclaimer above...we can certainly see that shooting someone with a Putty Cannon could easily kill them. Especially because after impact putty is bouncing all over the place, unpredictably, at pretty high speeds. Unintended consequences become the norm not the exception.

After shooting the Thinking Putty at the sheeting for a while we decided to try shooting Thinking Putty at Thinking Putty. We loaded a slug of Green Thinking Putty into the cannon and shot it at a lump of Coral Thinking Putty at a distance of about 8 feet.

puttyatputty.mpg - 3.7MB

"Wow! That was pretty cool!", we said in unison. Then, after finishing up other, non-putty related, but equally dangerous activities, we started the cleanup and, with all that putty on the brain, got a little crazy.

gettingcrazy.mpg - 4.4MB	airgun.mpg - 1.1MB	bubblepop.mpg - 2.7MB

Well, I hope you enjoyed reading and watching this little experiment as much as we enjoyed making it!

I'd love to hear your thoughts or comments. Just send me a line to the email listed below.

Best,