Tag: ferrofluid

The Best of FYFD 2019
2019 was an even busier year than last year! I spent nearly two whole months traveling for business, gave 13 invited talks and workshops, and produced three FYFD videos. I also published more than 250 blog posts and migrated all 2400+ of them to a new site. And, according to you, here are the top 10 FYFD posts of the year:
Nature makes a strong showing in this year’s top posts with five biophysics topics. FYFD videos also had a good year: both my Boston Molasses Flood video and dandelion flight video made the top 10!
If you’d like to see more great posts like these, please remember that FYFD is primarily supported by readers like you. You can help support the site by becoming a patron, making a one-time donation, or buying some merch. Happy New Year!
(Image credits: birdsong – K. Swoboda; pigeon take-off – BBC Earth; water anole – L. Swierk; Boston molasses flood – Boston Public Library; BZ reaction – Beauty of Science; ferrofluid – M. Zahn and C. Lorenz; splashes – Macro Room; dandelion – N. Sharp; dyed wave – S. Morris; bees – Beekeeping International)
January 1, 2020
CU Flow Vis 2019
I love when science and art come together, which is why I’ve long been a fan of the Flow Vis course at CU Boulder. Some of my earliest posts on FYFD date from previous editions of the course. Here are a few of my favorite images from the Fall 2019 class, from the top:
- Ferrofluid and India ink merge in this colorful photo. A magnet underneath the mixture on the left side causes the dark spikes of ferrofluid, but without magnetic influence, the ink and ferrofluid form cell-like droplets.
- Although it looks like a shower head, this is actually fluorescent oobleck dripping through a strainer. A relatively long exposure time means that it’s impossible to tell whether the oobleck is falling in a fluid stream or broken-up chunks.
- These colorful water droplets are sitting on a hydrophobic surface, hence their extremely rounded edges. I particularly like how this makes each one like a little lens for the light shining through them and into their shadows.
- A thin layer of ferrofluid reacts to the magnet beneath. Gotta love those little streaks left behind the flow.
For those in the Front Range area, the Flow Vis class will be showcasing their work on Saturday, December 14th at the Fiske Planetarium. Snacks are at 4:30 pm and the show starts at 5 pm. For those not nearby, you can peruse the art from this semester and previous ones at your leisure online. (Image credits: colorful ferrofluid – R. Drevno; falling oobleck – A. Kumar; droplets – A. Barron; macro ferrofluid – A. Zetley)
December 9, 2019
“Emergence”
Artist Susi Sie explores fluidic worlds through her macro lens. In “Emergence,” her focus is on ferrofluids immersed in other liquids. Beginning with tiny droplets traversing the thin fluid channels of a foam, she allows the unique qualities of ferrofluids to slowly take center stage. Dark blobs grow into curvy labyrinths as a magnetic fields come into play. Until ultimately the magnetic nature of the fluid becomes undeniable as scattered droplets elongate into miniature compass needles and swing around to follow the field lines. (Video and image credit: S. Sie)
September 19, 2019
Ferrofluid in a Cell
Ferrofluids are a colloid consisting of magnetically sensitive nanoparticles suspended in a carrier liquid, like oil. They’re often associated with a distinctive spiky appearance when exposed to a magnet, but this isn’t their only magnetic response. Above we see a ferrofluid confined to a Hele-Shaw cell – essentially two glass plates with a small gap between them. In the upper image, the ferrofluid is exposed first to an axial magnetic field, which stretches it to form spidery arms. Then the magnetic field switches to a rotating configuration, which curls the arms around and causes the ferrofluid to slowly rotate.
In the lower image, you see the reverse. First, the ferrofluid feels a rotating magnetic field. When this is changed to an axial field, the ferrofluid bursts into a cell-like center with straight arms. As the magnitude of the axial field increases further, the arms begin to curl. For more fantastical ferrofluid formations, check out these previous posts featuring artists Linden Gledhill and Fabian Oefner. (Image credit: M. Zahn and C. Lorenz, source; via Ashlyn N.)
August 30, 2019
Sunset Flow
Day and night mix in this flow visualization of watercolor pigments and ferrofluid. The former, as suggested by their name, are water-based, whereas ferrofluids typically contain an oil base. This means the two fluids are immiscible. Like oil and vinegar in salad dressing, the only way to mix them is to break one into tiny droplets floating in the other. This is what happens near their boundary, where brightly-colored paint droplets float in a network of dark channels. To the right, the paint and ferrofluid have been swirled around to create viscous mixing patterns among the paint colors with occasional intrusions of thin ferrofluid fingers. (Image credit: G. Elbert)
March 27, 2018
Ferrofluid Microlandscapes
Ferrofluids are an ever-fascinating topic. Consisting of ferromagnetic nanoparticles suspended in a carrier fluid, ferrofluids are known for their bizarre behaviors in the presence of a magnetic field, like their tendency to form pointed peaks reminiscent of Bart Simpson’s hair. In a new Concept Zero video, photographer Linden Gledhill creates fascinating micro-landscapes using ferrofluids suspended in solvents. Driven by magnetic fields, the ferrofluids take on many shapes that change as the solvent and eventually the ferrofluid’s carrier fluid evaporate. Check out the full video above and, if you’re looking for some new decorations for your walls, you can check out the project’s fine art gallery. (Video and image credit: L. Gledhill and Concept Zero; submitted by L. Gledhill)
May 24, 2017
Fluids Round-up
Here’s to another fluids round-up, our look at some of the interesting fluids-related stories around the web:
– Above is a music video by Roman Hill that relies on mixing and merging different fluids and perturbing ferrofluids for its visuals as it re-imagines the genesis of life.
– GoPro takes viewers inside a Category 5 typhoon with 112 mph (180 kph; 50 m/s) winds.
– Astronaut Scott Kelly demonstrates playing ping pong with a ball of water in space. (via Gizmodo)
– See fluid dynamics on a global scale with Glittering Blue. (via The Atlantic)
– To make a taller siphon, you have to find a way to avoid cavitation.
– Speaking of siphons, Randall Munroe tackles the question of siphoning water from Europa over at What If? (submitted by jshoer)
– The Mythbusters make a giant tanker implode using air pressure.
– Sixty Symbols explores how tiny things swim.
– What happens when you bathe in 500 pounds of putty? Let’s just say that bathing in an extremely viscous non-Newtonian fluid is not recommended. (via Gizmodo)
(Video credit and submission: R. Hill et al.)
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February 4, 2016
Glow-Stick Ferrofluids
Ferrofluids create all kinds of fascinating shapes when exposed to magnetic fields. In this video, Dianna from Physics Girl shows off what happens when you combine a ferrofluid with glowsticks and explains how ferrofluids get some of their unique properties. Ferrofluids consist of tiny nanoparticles of magnetic material that are surrounded by surfactants and suspended in a carrier fluid. This creates a fluid whose shape depends on gravity, surface tension, and the local magnetic field. By manipulating the relative strength of these forces, you can create everything from spikes to maze-like patterns to whatever this is. (Video credit and submission: Physics Girl)
October 21, 2015
Magnetic Putty
Sometimes fluids are slow-moving enough that it takes timelapse techniques to reveal the flow. Fog is one example, and, as seen above, magnetic silly putty is another. The putty is an unusual fluid in a couple of ways. First, having been impregnated with ferromagnetic nanoparticles, it is sensitive to magnetic fields, making it a sort of ferrofluid. And secondly, being silly putty, it’s a non-Newtonian fluid, meaning that it has a nonlinear response to deformation – a fact that will be familiar to anyone who has tried to knead putty versus striking it. With a strong enough magnet, the putty makes for an impressively tenacious creeping flow. (Video credit: I. Parks; via io9; submitted by Chad W.)
March 18, 2015
“Cymatics”
Nigel Stanford’s new “Cymatics” music video is full of stunning science-inspired visuals. The entire video is set up around various science demos–many of which will be familiar to readers–that translate sound or vibration into visual elements. The video uses ferrofluids, vibrates vodka on a speaker to create Faraday waves, and visualizes resonant sound waves with a Rubens’ tube. I don’t want to give away all the awesome effects, so watch it for yourself, and then check out their behind-the-scenes page where they talk about how they created each effect. (Video credit: N. Stanford; submitted by buckitdrop)
Also, today is the final day of voting for the Vizzies, an NSF-sponsored contest for the best science and engineering visuals. Head over to their website to check out the finalists and choose your favorites!
November 17, 2014