Comments on: Fun With Pseudofluids

Fun With Pseudofluids

Specklet — Wed, 22 Dec 2004 16:29:13 -0800

You probably knew that Silly Putty is a non-Newtonian fluid, and that Faraday waves make cornstarch and water do creepy things, but did you know that your washing machine probably has magnetorheological fluid in it? Yes indeed, there are fun and interesting applications for ferrofluids.

By: weapons-grade pandemonium

weapons-grade pandemonium — Wed, 22 Dec 2004 16:44:00 -0800

This magnetorheological fluid--it doesn't vibrate?

By: cali

cali — Wed, 22 Dec 2004 17:45:23 -0800

I love stuff like this, the cornstarch video and the ferrofluid video are both especially great. My next ferrofluid purchase will probably be magnetic paint, since I rent an apartment with fragile plaster walls that do not take kindly to nails. Magnets are awesome.

By: five fresh fish

five fresh fish — Wed, 22 Dec 2004 17:57:45 -0800

Interesting. Now I'm going to have to disassemble my front-loading washer and find out if it's using conventional shock absorbers, or magnetorheological ones. I hope it's the latter!

By: Embryo

Embryo — Wed, 22 Dec 2004 17:59:18 -0800

This is awesome. I want some of that paint, cali. I must say that although dinosaurs, the Ninja Turtles, and Santa Claus have lost much of their luster since I discovered them in my childhood, magnets are still fucking cool as hell.

By: andrew cooke

andrew cooke — Wed, 22 Dec 2004 18:00:17 -0800

wow. cool, thanks. tomorrow i'll be checking to see if the dampers on our washing machine have wires attached....

By: kliuless

kliuless — Wed, 22 Dec 2004 18:14:26 -0800

thanks! they found negative normal stress in mayonnaise btw :D

By: Wolfdog

Wolfdog — Wed, 22 Dec 2004 18:19:06 -0800

I did not know that. Now I do. The cornstarch-and-water video, particularly the fingers at the end, is what the ocean in Solaris has always looked like in my mind's eye. I wonder how many orders "Educational Innovations" is going to get for bottles of Ferrofluid.

By: Freen

Freen — Wed, 22 Dec 2004 18:22:28 -0800

Wow. magnetic paint.... I wonder if you could paint a wifi antenna? Great links.

By: DV8 2XL

DV8 2XL — Wed, 22 Dec 2004 18:24:39 -0800

Great set of links on a fascinating topic. One other area needs mentioning MagnetoRheological fluid Optimized Active Damper Suspensions.

By: esoterica

esoterica — Wed, 22 Dec 2004 18:54:20 -0800

DV8, GM has actually offered their MagneRide suspension on certain cars since 2001.

By: esoterica

esoterica — Wed, 22 Dec 2004 19:08:11 -0800

Another fascinating article from The Economist about the potential commercial uses of "Smart Fluid," in everything from digital cameras to artificial limbs to automatic clutches.

By: 445supermag

445supermag — Wed, 22 Dec 2004 19:28:08 -0800

For the scientifically minded, check out the work of Trevor Douglas at Montana State University. He is creating miniature magnetic particles of various sizes by mineralizing the interior of various hollow nano-scale biological containers (ferritin, heat shock proteins, virus capsids).

By: raygirvan

raygirvan — Wed, 22 Dec 2004 19:35:13 -0800

Of related interest, Army creates liquid armor. This one's about composites of Kevlar with shear-thickening fluids, that temporarily harden on impact.

By: weapons-grade pandemonium

weapons-grade pandemonium — Wed, 22 Dec 2004 21:01:00 -0800

I tried to buy some magnetic paint the other day, but my Mastercard wouldn't swipe.

By: raedyn

raedyn — Wed, 22 Dec 2004 21:53:03 -0800

Thank you, Speklet. Now I can say I learned something today.

By: PenDevil

PenDevil — Wed, 22 Dec 2004 23:36:33 -0800

Sweet. I did my Gr. 11 science expo project on Magnetoheological fluids (thanks a bunch Scientific American!). Got me 85% for it, yes indeed.

By: gren

gren — Thu, 23 Dec 2004 05:41:27 -0800

Speaking of Silly Putty...everyone here knows how to make it ya? Super simple joining of polymers...specifically Polyvinyl Acetate...what makes white glue sticky ! To join it, you need Sodium Tetraborate...in other words, Borax soap. The Borax needs to be in solution...80g/Gallon. Put your white glue (it doesnt have to be Elmers!) in a container you dont care about, add a couple drops of food coloring, stir it up. Layer on the Sodium Borate solution and stir stir stir! It *very* quickly starts to glom together, so do everything you can to work it...add more Borate solution on top as needed. Eventually, it will not be sticky anymore, so take it out of its container and put it in your hand over a garbage can. Keep working it in your hand as you drizzle more Borate solution on top and voila, homebrew Silly Putty. Do note, you can even add a drop of scented oil to the glue beforehand....and its best if you store it in some borate solution. This is the same putty you get when you buy Silly brand (same stretch/shear/pick up newsprint properties :) If you can get your hands on Polyvinyl Alcohol, put it in solution (112g/Gallon), color or scent as before, mix with Sodium Borate (~10:1 ratio PVA:SB) and you have slime! (I do this pretty much everyday at work..tho yesterday I was playing with drops of food coloring in whole milk and soap).

By: Specklet

Specklet — Thu, 23 Dec 2004 09:04:46 -0800

Wow, thanks for all the links in return, guys!

By: jewzilla

jewzilla — Thu, 23 Dec 2004 11:02:35 -0800

The trick to the washing machine is that its dampers consist simply of six hydrocoptic marzel-vanes, so fitted to the ambifasciant lunar wane shaft so that side fumbling is effectively prevented.

By: FissionChips

FissionChips — Thu, 23 Dec 2004 15:41:04 -0800

Thank you jewzilla, that made my day.