Silly String Explodes Under Force From Hydraulic Press

Trevor English

We all love playing with silly string, and the pressurized cans of stringy foam can make quite the mess. Silly string is a synthetic based resin which contains a solvent that quickly evaporates when it comes in contact with the air. This evaporation is what allows silly string to become, well . . . string.

Invented in 1972, the creators were trying to find a product that could become an instant cast for broken bones, but ended up creating something much more fun, and maybe a little bit more useless. The inventors probably couldn't have foreseen what a wild success their product would be, and now you can see a can explode under crushing forces from a hydraulic press.