It might be silly to determine the creep rate of putty but groups will enjoy making different formulations of silly putty and playing with them to understand how the different mixtures behave. The second part of the activity has groups calculate and compare the creep rate between the different kinds of silly putty.

Concepts

biomedical engineering, medical technology, polymers, behavior, viscosity, mechanics, technology resources

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Instructional Ideas

• In order to lessen the effect of potential error, average the classes' data

Classroom Considerations

• The class should be familiar with viscoelastic material behavior including strain rate dependence, stress relaxation, creep, hysteresis, and preconditioning
• If time is a concern, make the three types of silly putty prior to the class

Pros

• The instructions for the activity come in a PDF or a PowerPoint and are included in the teacher resource
• Provides troubleshooting tips to help reduce the amount of variability and error in the activity

Cons

• None

Common Core

HSS-ID.A.1 HSS-ID.A.4 MP4