FerroFluid and AC Magnet

[emb11103]

i have no idea what any of u science dudes are saying all im saying is its freaking cool

[RokkerBoyy]

@emb11103 yes, thats kind of what we nerds and geeks do :P

[emb11103]

@RokkerBoyy well now i am one of those science dudes making that cool stuff an i know why!!!!:)

[jimwraith]

its basically just iron filings in a fluid suspension being acted on by an alternating magnetic current, cool and strangely wonderful but not terribly complicated

[iNick3]

Actually ferrofluids are usually magnetite particles in a liquid medium such as oil. Iron filings would be too large to be suspended by Brownian motion and would sink. The definition of a ferrofluid includes that the magnetic particles must be small enough to be suspended by Brownian motions. What you described would be a magnetorheological fluid

[TheSchimmi]

and the 10 nanometer molecule that binds them together so the magnetite doesn't just go towards the magnet and the oil stay

[RokkerBoyy]

@iNick3 The definition doesnt state that they must be small enough, "small enough" is able to still be larger than the definition, it is actually defined as particles of ~10nm

[Millhouse013]

that's a ferrofluid, a magnetic fluid , that's nanotechnology, and this guy just held it against an electromagnet... and thats it...

[uberderre]

well.. not it was an AC magnet, so it would have probably behaved differently if he was generating an alternating field. pity we couldn't see anything

[donstratton]

Ferrofluid is not "nanotechnology" per se. For one thing, ferrofluids have been around thousands of years before the buzzword "nanotechnology". For another, it is just extremely particles of metal in a fluidic suspension... any high school student can make the stuff on a kitchen table.

Cool stuff, yes, but not "nanotechnology" the way the media or pop culture uses it these days. NanoSCALE, perhaps, but even that may be overstating it.

[RokkerBoyy]

@donstratton can make it, but it isnt recommended since it is known to stain... pretty much everything

[xXxmidgexXx]

I dont get it.