The ferrofluid king's new thing

January 16, 2007 7:10 AM

Still more Ferrofluid fun The artist who produced 'Protrude Flow' has a new thing: A spiral tower, presumably full of electromagnets, which pulls ferrofluid up and down and all over it in weird black spikes. That's a hopeless description, so watch the (big .wmv) videos: 1 and 2 for full amazingosity.
posted by tombola (23 comments total)

Beautiful.
posted by Blazecock Pileon at 7:26 AM on January 16, 2007

Is it crass of me to really, really want it as a centerpiece?
posted by squasha at 7:32 AM on January 16, 2007

Does anyone know what the fluid formulation they use is? Did they make it themselves or did they buy it. I'm guessing they had to experiment a bit with different viscosities and ratios of oil to particles.
posted by Pastabagel at 7:41 AM on January 16, 2007

squasha: you'll have to pry it out of my dead hands first.
posted by Mach5 at 7:42 AM on January 16, 2007

Wow, I am totally mesmerized by this. I love how quickly "scientific curiosity" turns into "sexy design".
posted by LMGM at 7:59 AM on January 16, 2007

*calls RacerX and begins plotting Speed's demise*
posted by squasha at 8:00 AM on January 16, 2007

Repost? I think.
posted by Krrrlson at 8:27 AM on January 16, 2007

If there were some way to color it green and put it under glass so that little kids wouldn't get their paws all over it, this would make a sweet Christmas tree.
posted by jedicus at 8:46 AM on January 16, 2007

Almost previously.
posted by public at 9:00 AM on January 16, 2007

What's going on in these things?
posted by philosophistry at 9:03 AM on January 16, 2007

What's going on in these things?
Theres a metal cone with spiral groves in it underneath the fluid. I guess they apply a fairly strong magnetic field to that (electromagnet perhaps?) and the fluid attaches it's self to the cone in fun shapes. Play around with the magnetic field a bit and you can get it to pulse and move around.

Ferrofluid is fun.
posted by public at 9:06 AM on January 16, 2007

I have no idea what this is all about, but that pleases me.
posted by dios at 9:30 AM on January 16, 2007

I have a big jar of ferrofluid here on my desk waiting for some kind of cool project like this. It's made of a very light oil infused with the little iron bits.

The problem is that the stuff really soaks into anything and is very black, ie if you get a little micro drop on your skin it makes a big black stain. Not to mention anything else it comes in contact with. And its oil, so it's really hard to clean up.

You can get it by the L here.
posted by belling at 10:06 AM on January 16, 2007

What I want to know is, when you have this stuff charged up and spikey, is it solid to the touch? Could it poke me?
posted by Parannoyed at 10:28 AM on January 16, 2007

Prannoyed: No. It feels... gelatinous at best.
posted by phrontist at 10:38 AM on January 16, 2007

Maybe I've seen Skin of Evil a few too many times, but that jet black liquid looks like it's going to envelop me and burrow into my brain. Moreover, it looks like it wants to.
posted by quite unimportant at 11:39 AM on January 16, 2007

Morbo DEMANDS a morpho!
posted by ROU_Xenophobe at 11:59 AM on January 16, 2007

This is super, super cool. I too want one.
posted by dejah420 at 2:49 PM on January 16, 2007

I think you can make the fluid with laser printer toner and some oil. Could be wrong.
posted by IronLizard at 5:11 PM on January 16, 2007

wow, cool.
posted by nickyskye at 10:54 PM on January 16, 2007

Laser printer toner?! Uh... no.
posted by five fresh fish at 12:25 AM on January 17, 2007

Uh... yes.
posted by IronLizard at 1:56 AM on January 17, 2007

Ah. MICR toner, that makes sense. Normal laser toner is not magnetic.
posted by five fresh fish at 9:06 AM on January 17, 2007