Braniac75, after trying and failing to replicate the various online recipes for DIY ferrofluid (the consumer stuff is $200+ a liter), figured it out: 1 part iron oxide powder, 1 part "clinging" synthetic motor oil, a stirring stick, and a dangerously powerful magnet to risk your fingers with: "it really is that easy."

The result is more of a paste than a liquid, but it works!

Wanna try ferrofluid yourself but don't want to pay the premium price? In this video I show you how to make your own very easily and cheaply! I couldn't get the common DIY recipes found online to work well but in desperation found another way through my own experiments. I call it ferripaste since it isn't as fluid as the commercial stuff - but that only makes it even more interesting to play with. It will behave in a more varying ways to a magnet than just spikes like the ferrofluid. Hope you can use it to make you own amazing ferripaste experiments :)

YouTuber Brainiac75 suffers for science by taking a viewer request to touch the spikes formed by exposing ferrofluid to an extremely powerful neodymium magnet. He also shares some history of the substance. Read the rest

Ferrofluid is so awesome. Read the rest

Ferrolic is a clock in which magnets draw ferrofluid into ever-shifting shapes (and, occasionally numbers, so you can tell the time). It is more beautiful and weird than you perhaps imagine.

Ferrolic was designed from a strong fascination for the magical material Ferro Fluid. The natural dynamics of this fluid makes that this display bridges the gap between everyday digital screens and tangible reality.

Because the fluid behaves in a unpredictable way, it is possible to give the bodies perceived in the Ferrolic display a strong reference to living creatures. It is this lively hood that enables Ferrolic to show a meaning-full narrative like for instance having the creatures play tag. In addition the natural flow of the material, it can be used to form recognisable shapes and characters. Ferrolic uses these both layers in paralel in order to display scenes and transitions in an poetic, almost dance like, choregraphed way.

Via JWZ. Read the rest

Filmmaker Kim Pimmel combined ferrofluids, a magnet, soap bubbles, and dye to create this mesmerizing short video. Science + art = awesomesauce.

Video Link

Thanks, Brian Thomas!

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