Magnetic Fluid Art

Big Dave Diode writes: "Fero magnetic powder dissolved in a solvent and manipulated by electromagnets makes for some keen 3D shapes. Boy, physics is fun." These are really very pretty shapes; I wonder what other uses there are for magnetic micropowder dissolved in solvent.

Drink this, and get a stomach churning experience!

[TheLink]

What next, magnetic enemas?

The possibilities are endless.

Educational use

[Yazeran]

Apart from the pretty pictures and funny shapes, fluid like this can be used in education. Children can play with the shapes and at the same time learn something about magnetism (and not only electromagnets will create these shapes), ordinary permanent magnets works just as good. In some instances better, as you cna make multipolar permanent magnets, which makes for some pretty interesting shapes in such fluid.

Yours Yazeran

Plan: to go to mars one day with a hammer.

Other uses...

[Muad'Dave]

...include electrically-actuated clutches in cars. Traditionally, magnetic clutches consisted of steel disks brought together (rather abruptly) by an electromagnet. To provide a smooth, wear-free power transfer, electro-rheological materials [wspc.com.sg] (that change viscosity with an applied electric field) where used, but had issues of their own. These magnetic particles could provide a viable answer.

Re:Other uses...

[Gordonjcp]

Actually, ferro-magnetic fluid clutches were used in cars in the 1950's by (iirc) Austin. The biggie was that the electromagnets used a horrendous amount of power, and very quickly killed the relatively weak dynamo-powered electrical systems.

Probably, an alternator-powered system would work a bit better.

Science Museum, London

[fingal]

IIRC, there is a demo of this fluid in the materials section of the Science Museum in London with a tray of the fluid and a variety of different shaped magnets (horseshoe, toroidal, bar etc) that you can press up against the bottom of the tray and make your own shapes like this. Very pleasant way to spend an afternoon...

SIGGRAPH

[The Iconoclast]

I saw this art piece at the ACM SIGGRAPH conference this year in the art gallery. It was amazing. One of the most popular exhibits at the conference. Phisics + Art = Beautiful fun!!!

Dissolved in a solvent?

[Vuarnet]

(*Slaps own forehead*) No wonder every time I tried dissolving stuff in non-solvents it never worked out...

Quantum Computer from Magnetic Fluid?

[Koi]

Could these magnetic fluids be used with some sort of magneto-optical technology to build 3-D Quantum computers? As I understand Quantum Computing - they are still looking for good ways, besides "double-slit" photon type experiments, to implement them?

Wrong Title?

[O'doyle]

Why is the title for this article reading "Slashdot: News For Nerds, Stuff That Matters?" The search icon is a little folder.

It appears this way on the science page.

clogged Arteries

[coldfire]

It seems to me that with some fine control over multiple electromagnets would enable you to inject this into the blood stream, move it to a clot and vibrate it to pieces. I don't know the implications of having this mixture in your blood stream though. It Probably is really bad for you. Well I suppose you could use it to remove clogs from non-ferrous pipes.

Re:clogged Arteries

[t]

This sounds very similar to an Xfiles episode. It would work in ferrous pipes too. You'd just need more power.

Re:another use

[|deity|]

If one could find a way to solidify these shapes after they have been created, maybe by using a melted solid to hold the particles in suspension, then allowing the material to cool to the point of solidification. One could create many solids of different shapes, with no machining using a computer to controll magnet placement.

Virtual Sensation suit

[coldfire]

You could build an interesting virtual reality immersion suit with this. A double layer suit with this between the layers and an array of electromagnets on the outside of it could give and interesting mix of tactile sensations. Or a really good back massage.

2 dimensional manipulation table (soccer)

[coldfire]

You could build a table that allowed you to manipulate objects on top of the liquid with magnetic fields. This would be useful for automated part sorting. It could also be a lot of fun to play a game of soccer with a ball that floated on the liquid and a moveable array of electromagnets above and below that table that are configurable and moveable by the players.