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December 12, 2010 6:51 PM   Subscribe

This post was deleted for the following reason: Eh, straightfaced "make something neat (but actually make a useless goddam mess)" video without any kind of clear "this is a joke" framing seems like a bad idea. -- cortex



 
Soundtrack WIN!
posted by Trivia Newton John at 7:12 PM on December 12, 2010


need to clean up a huge mess you made with toner and vegetable oil? look no further than napkins!
posted by mexican at 7:40 PM on December 12, 2010


This is a "Household Hacker" (householdhacker.com) video, which is fake. All of the Household Hacker videos are jokes.

The Household Hacker instructions usually do nothing at all. In this case you'd only make a big, non-magnetic mess.
posted by dansdata at 8:47 PM on December 12, 2010 [11 favorites]


One of the most important properties of ferrofluid is that the magnetic particles remain in suspension. Toner particles are way to large and will soon settle out of the liquid (10 µm vs. 10 nm).

(Also, I did not know toner was that magnetic. So why is special toner needed to print MICR codes?)
posted by ryanrs at 8:54 PM on December 12, 2010 [1 favorite]


Oh. Because it's bullshit, thats why. Thanks, Dan.
posted by ryanrs at 8:55 PM on December 12, 2010 [2 favorites]


This will not work.
posted by Blasdelb at 9:22 PM on December 12, 2010


In the video the cool stuff is commercially available ferrofluid suspended in kerosene. Touching ferrofluid like they do in the film is NOT A GOOD IDEA. No one knows what nanoparticles of magnetite will do when they penetrate your skin, if you get it on you IT WILL PENETRATE YOUR SKIN. Also magnetite is typically made from Ferric chloride and Ferrous chloride, both of which YOU DO NOT WANT ANYWHERE NEAR YOUR SKIN in any concentration.

This video is both incorrect and dangerous.
posted by Blasdelb at 9:29 PM on December 12, 2010


On the other hand, oily toner is probably ok.
posted by ryanrs at 9:46 PM on December 12, 2010


On further investigation, real ferrofluid doesn't seem so bad, either. Wash your hands afterwards.
Ferrofluid MSDS [pdf]

Do you have a link that contradicts this, Blasdelb?
posted by ryanrs at 10:14 PM on December 12, 2010


Huh. That MSDS has a typo -- the note at the top of page 3 should read "Conditions to avoid: Pyrolysis, as opposed to "Prolysis," which is apparently a former biotech company and "male enhancement" keyword. The more you know.
posted by lumensimus at 10:35 PM on December 12, 2010


No man, that stuff's for real. Whatcha do is inject the black oil into your dick, then you take this magnet...
posted by ryanrs at 11:36 PM on December 12, 2010


One of the most important properties of ferrofluid is that the magnetic particles remain in suspension. Toner particles are way to large and will soon settle out of the liquid (10 µm vs. 10 nm).

(Also, I did not know toner was that magnetic. So why is special toner needed to print MICR codes?)


It's MICR toner in the video, though now sadly dansdata is making me doubt my dream of making quick and affordable ghetto ferrofluid.
posted by Artw at 11:43 PM on December 12, 2010


Ferric chloride and Ferrous chloride, both of which YOU DO NOT WANT ANYWHERE NEAR YOUR SKIN in any concentration.

As someone who etched circuit boards for the EE labs as his work-study job, I can attest that the one time I got a hole in my glove and the stuff seeped between the latex and my skin only resulted in an orange hand for a day or two. "May cause irritation" on the MSDS doesn't necessitate capitalized letters warning against skin contact...
posted by AzraelBrown at 6:27 AM on December 13, 2010


Was just about to comment that toner isn't great stuff esp if you breath it in (way back in the day I used to have to poor loose toner into printers - I always made sure I was 'down wind') ... but others have pointed out this stuff is even more of the nasty.
posted by fearfulsymmetry at 7:35 AM on December 13, 2010


I've refilled a few cartridges in my time - it's no worse than working down a coal mine.
posted by Artw at 7:42 AM on December 13, 2010 [1 favorite]


Probably some sort of [video] mention in the title or link would've been appropriate, not to Negative Nancify things unduly. Even the title of the page itself had video as the first word.
posted by tapesonthefloor at 7:46 AM on December 13, 2010


MICR versus normal toner:

Normal toner used to be tiny bits of iron encapsulated in plastic. (It may not be that way any more, not 100% sure on that.) But the percentage of iron to plastic was pretty low. MICR toner has a lot more iron in it.

I've refilled a few cartridges in my time - it's no worse than working down a coal mine.

And color toner is like working in a coal mine on acid.
posted by gjc at 8:35 AM on December 13, 2010


From what I can figure from digging around in a few toner MSD sheets, not a lot of toners have iron oxides in them anymore. Most are plastics and carbon black. Now MSDS are hardly definitive; many ingredients are "proprietary mixtures". If I had to bet though, I would guess that for most toner compounds this would not work.

Regarding nanoparticle toxicity, the real answer is that no one knows very well at this point. However, it does look like smallness could be toxic regardless of the material. Small particles are "sharp", they can disrupt other things easily. This can cause all kinds of problems in human beans, including notably lung problems. If you get them in your lungs, the particles are too heavy for you to cough out again, thus leading to constant irriation, scarring (and asthma), loss of lung capacity and possibly cancers. Nanoparticles don't look like they're very good news to handle. We're in early days, however. This may or may not be true for all types of nanoparticle.
posted by bonehead at 9:18 AM on December 13, 2010


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