Hey guys, childhood is really fun. From being curious to asking questions without any hesitation. So, going through random thoughts, this one question stuck to my mind. Apart from the most commonly known iron, cobalt and nickel what else is attracted towards magnet? And then i got to know about this fluid. Further i was curious to know about properties, application of this fluid. So, without any further puzzling out. Let’s jump to the point.
The first thing that pop into my mind after seeing the above picture was “Is this a fluid?”, more or less it pretty much resembles a crystalline structure as that of solids. So, what exactly it is? Well, this is what it actually is, a liquid metal also popular as “Ferrofluid”.
The fluid consists out of iron nanoparticles (ferro) and a solvent (mostly oil or water). To prevent separation of the iron particles and the solvent, a surfactant is used. This surfactant has a head-tale construction and works like a detergent. The polar part (head or tale) is attracted to an iron particle and the non-polar part is attracted to the carrier fluid. This makes the ferrofluid an homogeneous liquid. The interesting fact is that we can prepare it at home: https://nationalmaglab.org/education/magnet-academy/try-at-home/making-ferrofluids#:~:text=Pour%20a%20bit%20of%20vegetable,the%20ferrofluid%20to%20become%20thicker.
Now, think when you drop some oil on floor you can’t get it back it will split all around the floor in random patter but that’s not the case with ferrofluid if you accidentally drop it on floor then just bring a strong magnet near it you can get it on magnet back or you can set the direction for the flow of it by placing magnets in particular manner.So, A major benefit of ferrofluid is that the liquid can be forced to flow via the positioning and strength of the magnetic field and so the ferrofluid can be positioned very exactly. Ferrofluids also have the capability of reducing friction, making them useful in a variety of electronic and transportation applications. Further it is used to create stunning sculptures, can be used to seal many electronic devices and have medical applications too. In future it is expected that this fluid can also be used to create artificial heart, to know how click on the link:
Isn’t it amazing the a fluid can be so useful and fun at the same time, just because of it’s property of getting attracted towards magnet. Now think what will happen if our cooking oil also starts exhibiting same properties or if all fluids obtain this property. What problems we will be facing or will their be no problem at all?
THINK!!!
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