Sci Fi/Sci Fact - Flubber: Fun or Frightening?

If we take the 1997 version on Flubber, it is a fluorescent green, slimy-looking rubbery substance with endless energy. It defies the laws of physics and if it was real could be a terrifying prospect.

When something bounces it looses energy every time it hits the ground, but Dr. Nathaniel Davis, Associate Investigator and Lecturer in Physical Chemistry at Victoria University of Wellington said there are two ways something could get around this basic scientific principal.

"One is it has some form of internal energy that it's releasing," he said, "kind of like a battery. Or it's somehow absorbing energy on each bounce."

Dr Davis said there is some evidence that Flubber absorbs energy from around itself and that prospect is terrifying.

"It's going to be bouncing around the universe taking all the energy and never stopping until there's no energy left."

December 10, 2021