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A physics / Stamp related question — Parallax Forums

A physics / Stamp related question

ArchiverArchiver Posts: 46,084
edited 2001-02-01 00:45 in General Discussion
Hello,

I am trying to find a liquid material that can be
controlled (moved) via magnetic attraction. I know
this is a bit of an unusual question. I'm an artist
and I'm trying to incorporate the Stamp into my
artwork, I'll be more than happy to elaborate to
anyone that is interested. I assumed mercury may be a
liquid that can be moved via a magnet, however, I
don't think it's that safe of mediums to be working
with. Have any ideas?

Thanks, in advance, for your creative input! [noparse]:)[/noparse]

Best of Regards,

Todd

__________________________________________________
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Comments

  • ArchiverArchiver Posts: 46,084
    edited 2001-01-28 18:05
    Todd, Wow! interesting project, you are right mercury is a no no! The thin
    film Liquid Crystal technologists may help. How about using very, very small
    diameter ball bearings or even iron filings (remember the magnet experiments
    in school?) in a shallow plastic dish suspended in a low viscosity liquid
    and pulsed electro-magnetically?
    Original Message
    From: Todd Botner <contacttodd@y...>
    To: <basicstamps@yahoogroups.com>
    Sent: Sunday, January 28, 2001 3:08 PM
    Subject: [noparse][[/noparse]basicstamps] A physics / Stamp related question


    > Hello,
    >
    > I am trying to find a liquid material that can be
    > controlled (moved) via magnetic attraction. I know
    > this is a bit of an unusual question. I'm an artist
    > and I'm trying to incorporate the Stamp into my
    > artwork, I'll be more than happy to elaborate to
    > anyone that is interested. I assumed mercury may be a
    > liquid that can be moved via a magnet, however, I
    > don't think it's that safe of mediums to be working
    > with. Have any ideas?
    >
    > Thanks, in advance, for your creative input! [noparse]:)[/noparse]
    >
    > Best of Regards,
    >
    > Todd
    >
    > __________________________________________________
    > Do You Yahoo!?
    > Yahoo! Auctions - Buy the things you want at great prices.
    > http://auctions.yahoo.com/
    >
    >
    >
    >
  • ArchiverArchiver Posts: 46,084
    edited 2001-01-28 18:53
    They only thing i can think of would be regular metals in their liquid form
    and that would be worse than mercury. Sure would be pretty though.
    Perhaps you could suspend very small metal shavings in an extremely viscous
    fluid. The only thing that comes to mind is the mud that is used when
    drilling for oil.
    Hope that helps.

    Cy Brown

    Original Message
    From: Todd Botner <contacttodd@y...>
    To: <basicstamps@yahoogroups.com>
    Sent: Sunday, January 28, 2001 9:08 AM
    Subject: [noparse][[/noparse]basicstamps] A physics / Stamp related question


    Hello,

    I am trying to find a liquid material that can be
    controlled (moved) via magnetic attraction. I know
    this is a bit of an unusual question. I'm an artist
    and I'm trying to incorporate the Stamp into my
    artwork, I'll be more than happy to elaborate to
    anyone that is interested. I assumed mercury may be a
    liquid that can be moved via a magnet, however, I
    don't think it's that safe of mediums to be working
    with. Have any ideas?

    Thanks, in advance, for your creative input! [noparse]:)[/noparse]

    Best of Regards,

    Todd

    __________________________________________________
    Do You Yahoo!?
    Yahoo! Auctions - Buy the things you want at great prices.
    http://auctions.yahoo.com/
  • ArchiverArchiver Posts: 46,084
    edited 2001-01-28 19:50
    What you are looking for is called ferro fluid. Try Edmund Scientific (
    www.edmundscientifice.com ) and look at item number CR82-215 (
    http://www.edmundscientific.com/Products/DisplayProduct.cfm?productid=2577 )
    and CR82-216 (
    http://www.edmundscientific.com/Products/DisplayProduct.cfm?productid=2578 )

    Tim
    [noparse][[/noparse]Denver, CO]


    > Hello,
    >
    > I am trying to find a liquid material that can be
    > controlled (moved) via magnetic attraction. I know
    > this is a bit of an unusual question. I'm an artist
    > and I'm trying to incorporate the Stamp into my
    > artwork, I'll be more than happy to elaborate to
    > anyone that is interested. I assumed mercury may be a
    > liquid that can be moved via a magnet, however, I
    > don't think it's that safe of mediums to be working
    > with. Have any ideas?
    >
    > Thanks, in advance, for your creative input! [noparse]:)[/noparse]
    >
    > Best of Regards,
    >
    > Todd
    >
    >
  • ArchiverArchiver Posts: 46,084
    edited 2001-01-28 20:29
    What about very fine metal dust or shavings in a jelly
    or gooey medium such as gelatin or a thick oil such as
    castor. Juat a thought.

    __________________________________________________
    Do You Yahoo!?
    Yahoo! Auctions - Buy the things you want at great prices.
    http://auctions.yahoo.com/
  • ArchiverArchiver Posts: 46,084
    edited 2001-01-29 18:09
    I agree with Tim Goldstein, ferrofluid is what you're looking for. A better
    source than Ed Sci is a manufacturer called Ferrofluidics. They have a wide
    selection of different solvents containing micron-sized iron filings with
    different magnetic susceptibilities (strengths). I've used ferrofluid in
    mineral oil for various purposes. When a small drop is put in water, is
    forms a black bubble. When a magnetic field is in the vicinity, the iron
    particles line up along the field lines and the bubble is attracted toward
    the magnet, acting like a liquid paramagnet.

    Contact me off list for Ferrofluidics phone/address, and I'll dig it out of
    my files.

    Dennis
    Original Message
    From: Tim Goldstein [noparse]/noparse]mailto:[url=http://forums.parallaxinc.com/group/basicstamps/post?postID=24rw4l7QB8P5R_LJLVxtndowtpYsT8knVjDXsG2QIiqOg4Y2RWh8kSohAslOu1QFvu8FIdxp78x5Gnr4]timg@k...[/url
    Sent: Sunday, January 28, 2001 11:51 AM
    To: basicstamps@yahoogroups.com
    Subject: RE: [noparse][[/noparse]basicstamps] A physics / Stamp related question


    What you are looking for is called ferro fluid. Try Edmund Scientific (
    www.edmundscientifice.com ) and look at item number CR82-215 (
    http://www.edmundscientific.com/Products/DisplayProduct.cfm?productid=2577 )
    and CR82-216 (
    http://www.edmundscientific.com/Products/DisplayProduct.cfm?productid=2578 )

    Tim
    [noparse][[/noparse]Denver, CO]


    > Hello,
    >
    > I am trying to find a liquid material that can be
    > controlled (moved) via magnetic attraction. I know
    > this is a bit of an unusual question. I'm an artist
    > and I'm trying to incorporate the Stamp into my
    > artwork, I'll be more than happy to elaborate to
    > anyone that is interested. I assumed mercury may be a
    > liquid that can be moved via a magnet, however, I
    > don't think it's that safe of mediums to be working
    > with. Have any ideas?
    >
    > Thanks, in advance, for your creative input! [noparse]:)[/noparse]
    >
    > Best of Regards,
    >
    > Todd
    >
    >
  • ArchiverArchiver Posts: 46,084
    edited 2001-01-29 19:59
    Todd,

    Ferrofluid should be readily available in small quantities from speaker
    repair shops. It's commonly used to fill the magnetic gap in tweeters, to
    improve heat dissipation and damping.

    >I am trying to find a liquid material that can be
    >controlled (moved) via magnetic attraction. I know
    >this is a bit of an unusual question. I'm an artist
    >and I'm trying to incorporate the Stamp into my
    >artwork, I'll be more than happy to elaborate to
    >anyone that is interested. I assumed mercury may be a
    >liquid that can be moved via a magnet, however, I
    >don't think it's that safe of mediums to be working
    >with. Have any ideas?

    Mike Hardwick, for Decade Engineering -- <http://www.decadenet.com>
    Manufacturer of the famous BOB-II Serial Video Text Display Module!
  • ArchiverArchiver Posts: 46,084
    edited 2001-01-29 23:33
    Todd
    I understand there is an article on Homemade ferrofluid in the
    Journal of Chemical Education July 1999 v76 page 943. I do not have
    the article yet, but hope to within the week.
    Vince


    >Hello,
    >
    >I am trying to find a liquid material that can be
    >controlled (moved) via magnetic attraction. I know
    >this is a bit of an unusual question. I'm an artist
    >and I'm trying to incorporate the Stamp into my
    >artwork, I'll be more than happy to elaborate to
    >anyone that is interested. I assumed mercury may be a
    >liquid that can be moved via a magnet, however, I
    >don't think it's that safe of mediums to be working
    >with. Have any ideas?
    >
    >Thanks, in advance, for your creative input! [noparse]:)[/noparse]
    >
    >Best of Regards,
    >
    >Todd
    >
    >__________________________________________________
    >Do You Yahoo!?
    >Yahoo! Auctions - Buy the things you want at great prices.
    >http://auctions.yahoo.com/
  • ArchiverArchiver Posts: 46,084
    edited 2001-01-31 18:52
    At 07:08 AM 1/28/2001 , you wrote:
    >Hello,
    >
    >I am trying to find a liquid material that can be
    >controlled (moved) via magnetic attraction.
    >
    >Best of Regards,
    >
    >Todd

    Todd,

    There are only three materials that a magnet will
    interact with. Nickel, Iron and Cobalt or
    alloys containing some combination of the three.

    I'm not a chemist so I can't tell you how to keep
    these elements in a suspension that doesn't
    separate. I think that would be your major problem.
    Powered iron in water or oil may work for you, add
    food coloring or dyes for color.

    Industrial mechanical feedthroughs for vacuum chambers
    use Ferro-Fluidic feedthroughs where the gap between
    a magnetic shaft in a bearing is filled with a magnetic
    suspension allowing the shaft to rotate freely with no
    leaks. You might be able to get a magnetic suspension
    from one of these feedthrough vendors such as MDC, ect.

    Good Luck,
    Greg
  • ArchiverArchiver Posts: 46,084
    edited 2001-01-31 21:48
    Ferrofluid, mentioned earlier, is a colloidal suspension of micron-sized
    iron particles, each coated with a substance that keeps them separated.
    Brownian motion disperses them with random magnetic orientation in the
    absence of an external magnetic field.

    Dennis
    Original Message
    From: Greg Hensley [noparse]/noparse]mailto:[url=http://forums.parallaxinc.com/group/basicstamps/post?postID=3Z70ZxF6LFKYR0wtPZzKEHFHvX9NttSPFAfIEo5NISpE1xQS2g8PiX7JagqVgf9Q455bvuzUUQw]hensley1@l...[/url
    Sent: Wednesday, January 31, 2001 10:53 AM
    To: basicstamps@yahoogroups.com
    Subject: Re: [noparse][[/noparse]basicstamps] A physics / Stamp related question


    At 07:08 AM 1/28/2001 , you wrote:
    >Hello,
    >
    >I am trying to find a liquid material that can be
    >controlled (moved) via magnetic attraction.
    >
    >Best of Regards,
    >
    >Todd

    Todd,

    There are only three materials that a magnet will
    interact with. Nickel, Iron and Cobalt or
    alloys containing some combination of the three.

    I'm not a chemist so I can't tell you how to keep
    these elements in a suspension that doesn't
    separate. I think that would be your major problem.
    Powered iron in water or oil may work for you, add
    food coloring or dyes for color.

    Industrial mechanical feedthroughs for vacuum chambers
    use Ferro-Fluidic feedthroughs where the gap between
    a magnetic shaft in a bearing is filled with a magnetic
    suspension allowing the shaft to rotate freely with no
    leaks. You might be able to get a magnetic suspension
    from one of these feedthrough vendors such as MDC, ect.

    Good Luck,
    Greg
  • ArchiverArchiver Posts: 46,084
    edited 2001-02-01 00:45
    this link may be of some help:
    http://scitoys.com/scitoys/scitoys/magnets/magnets.html#rheological
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