Ferrofluid

Cassox

I bought one of those bottles of ferrofluid, sold by "Thinkgeek." Unfortunately, my 2mm X 5mm disc magnet isn't powerful enough to cause much of an effect. I can cause waves of movement and even move small globules; however, I get zero spiking effects. Too too bad. Would have been a nifty parlor trick. Has anyone tried playing with ferrofluid with a larger implant?

U9Z0

Interesting. I hadn't even thought of ferro fluids before. What happens if you dip your finger in. Does it pull up/stick? Can you put a drop on your finger and keep it there or is the bond not strong enough?

Cassox

Well, ferrofluid will stick to your hands regardless of whether  you have a magnet or not. It's nasty stuff to clean off from what I've heard. I'm specifically talking about a ferrofluid display piece. The ferrofluid is in some kind of solvent medium. If you use a strong magnet, you can play around with it. I had hoped that my finger magnet would be adequate but unfortunately that's not the case. 

iexiak

Hey me too!  3mm x .7mm discs are just big enough to nudge around the big glob, or like you said make a tiny blob move around.  I think it would work if the glass on the display was thinner.

I kinda want to put one of those magents that come with it in my hand.  You can break the black parts off, and the smaller black part is really powerful for its size. 

Cassox

Oh hey! The M31 does a semi-decent job moving this stuff around. It doesn't make the awesome spiky-ness action. I'm going to pour it into a thinner glass, to see if I get a better result but you can definitely move it around and play. Another fun toy associated with magnet: "Green Viewing Film" which is really more of a saturated paper stuff. Still fun.

http://www.gaussboys.com/store/index.php/accessories/gvf075.html

Proteus

If anyone wants to make their own, there's a decent write-up here
http://www.instructables.com/id/ferromagnetic-fluid/?ALLSTEPS

Cassox

It's aesthetically pleasing stuff.