What is happening on a molecular level when an elastic stretches? Why are some substances elastic but others are not?
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To add onto other comments- atoms in rubber bands are long chains (you can think of it like spaghetti noodles or a long paper clip chain), but not all materials are like this. Metals, for example, have atoms stacked together in organized patterns and structures. Rubber bands are like noodles, metals are like Legos stacked together. You can’t pull on these organized structures and have them go back to their original shapes like you can do with long chains (the reason is because of entropy, and you can do a lot of math to prove that’s the case).
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