this video is sponsored by brilliant org
check the link in the description for a
discount on your first subscription hey
guys I’m Nate welcome back to the
workshop today we’re going to be taking
a little bit of a look at ferrofluid
that’s a liquid that’s attracted to
magnets and make some really cool shapes
when it’s in a magnetic field the basic
recipe for our ferrofluid that we’ll be
making today is one that I got from a
channel called brainiacs 75 they’ve got
a lot of cool videos about ferrofluid so
if you’re interested in seeing more go
check them out before we start making
our ferrofluid I wanted to talk a little
bit about what it is and why some
recipes do and don’t work the basic idea
of a Ferro fluid is a liquid that’s
attracted to a magnetic field this is
done by suspending a ferrous chemical
inside a liquid base toward properly a
ferrofluid needs at least three main
components the first is a magnetic
powder that can be suspended in the
fluid will be using magnetite a
synthetic black iron oxide
once we have our magnetic powder base we
need a fluid to suspend it in and this
is where it can get a little bit tricky
an issue we quickly run into is that
most liquids will not stick to the
microscopically small particles that
make up our magnetic powder we may be
able to get our powder wet but as soon
as a magnet is introduced all of the
particles will stick together so closely
that there’s no longer any space in
between the individual ones for our
fluid base let’s see what happens if we
try mixing our powder with plain water
this cup now has a mixture of a little
bit of water and some of our magnetite
powder you can see that it hasn’t mixed
in very thoroughly at the bottom there’s
still sort of a thick goopy paste with a
thinner black liquid on top of it now
this thinner liquid does have our
magnetite suspended through it pretty
well at this point so you might think
hey that should work won’t that be
magnetic well watch what happens when we
actually put a magnet up against it look
at that it squeezes the magnetic powder
so much that it just pulls all of it
right out of the water you can see we
are now getting water that’s almost
clear again we’ve just pulled all of the
magnet powder right out of there
it does look kind of cool though you can
see all the magnetic powder flowing
through the water over to the magnet so
the water clearly doesn’t work and that
brings us to the third element that we
need in our fair fluid and that’s what’s
called a surfactant the word surfactant
comes from a combination of the words
surface active agent a surfactant is
something that lowers the surface
tension between two substances what
we’re looking for is one that will work
as a wetting agent to make sure that our
liquid base will surround every
individual particle of our magnetite
powder motor-oil does exactly what we’re
looking for it’s a liquid oil base with
surfactants added to make it stick well
to the surface of oil this particular
brand is the same kind that was
recommended by Brainiac 75 on his
channel but I’ve tried it with a couple
of other brands of synthetic motor oil
and they seemed to work just as well so
now let’s take some of our oil and some
of our Mack
type powder mix them together and see
what happens and how it’s different from
mixing it with water now we have our
motor oil in the cup let’s add that get
up outta to it until it becomes a fairly
uniform consistency there we go we now
have a fairly thick liquid mixed up and
that is our Castrol Magnatech oil mixed
with our magnetite powder let’s see how
our liquid responds to a magnet there we
go you can see is definitely getting
pulled on to it there and we’re also
even starting to get a few fun little
shapes forming look at that the walls of
this cup get coated pretty quickly in
our black paste so to make it easier to
see let’s pour our liquid out onto a
plate and then see how it reacts to a
magnet alright let’s move our plate over
our magnet and see how this goes
definitely see your reacting you’re
starting to get some of those cool
little spiky shapes that we’re looking
for from the ferrofluid
that’s pretty cool
all right now let’s watch what happens
if I take the magnet away from the
mixture just kind of puddle back down
have all our fun little spikes take it
away and they all just smooth themselves
right out now that’s pretty neat
but this ceramic magnet is actually not
all that powerful so let’s see what
happens if we use something a little bit
stronger we’ve got four neodymium
magnets all stuck together right here
and this should provide some pretty
intense power hopefully not too much
power let’s see the result I want to
break my plate either oh boy yeah look
at that it’s so close to the magnetic
field and the magnetic field is so
strong that we’re not getting the normal
points we’re looking for but we’re just
getting some interesting plate spots on
the most concentrated bits in the magnet
also see this little puddle of oil in
the middle that’s what I was talking
about by using magnets that are too
powerful it’s actually squishing our
magnetic powder together so powerfully
that it’s squeezing the oil out from in
between the particles try and take this
magnet off and then back it away so it’s
not quite as close to our magnet powder
we’ve added two more plates that should
keep our magnets a little more separated
from our ferrofluid now let’s see how it
reacts
we’re still getting the four different
concentrated points so our four magnets
are clearly not all acting it has one
powerful magnet which makes sense there
we go look at that oh that’s beautiful
those spikes are fantastic as long as I
keep moving the magnet they sort of keep
growing in the magnetic field if I just
hold the magnet still of course they
don’t move anywhere just to illustrate
it it’s only when I’m moving the magnet
that the fluid is moving with it well
that was a pretty powerful magnet now I
also have some ultra powerful knives
these things are huge and so strong I’m
afraid it might be too strong and it
might just pull the magnetic powder
right out of the oil but we got to try
it you’d still like fully an inch away
we’re getting good results though Mike’s
a giant
I look so cool let’s see what happens if
I pull the magnet away well we’ve got
these giant spikes Boop huddled back
down back we got sort of these like
weird ridges instead of regular spikes
not quite what I had in mind but also
kind of neat there we have it our
ferrofluid may not be quite so runny or
thin as some commercially-available
ferrofluids but it does respond well to
magnets and we do get those cool points
sticking out of it just the way we
wanted to one more test I want to try
because I know a lot of you are gonna
want to see it let’s see what happens if
we freeze it with liquid nitrogen I have
a prediction and I think the liquid
nitrogen is going to freeze the motor
oil and it’ll become so rigid that it no
longer responds to the magnets well
let’s find out now pouring the liquid
nitrogen on just like this would be no
fun so let’s try and get some good
spikes on there and then freeze those so
if they stay even when we remove the
magnet all right those some good spikes
on a safety glasses
see about freezing our ferrofluid
hopefully it doesn’t just shatter my
plate it’s a very real possibility I
understand take away the magnet well I
would say we’ve got some good frozen
spice it’s actually got a cool you bet
anymore to keep it nice and frozen and
normally without a magnet these things
are just gone now I’ve got some frozen
motor oil and spike shaped I can poke
them now I got some of the unfrozen
stuff on my magnet that’s a moment there
you go how to make your very own
ferrofluid using magnetite powder and
Castrol Magnatech motor oil this stuff
is pretty fun to play with although I do
recommend you wear gloves because motor
oil is designed to stick to stuff and
this stuff is very black in color so if
you get any other than hands it’s going
to be on your hands and it’s going to
spread to everything you touch it’s
really hard to get off even with soap
and water if you’ve got any ideas on how
to make ferrofluid that’s a thinner
consistency more like the commercially
available ferrofluid let us know down in
the comments I would love to try all of
your ideas and if one of them works
we’ll make an updated video showing you
how to make that kind of ferrofluid and
we’ll send you 25 bucks well now we know
that ferrofluid is made from a magnetic
powder base a liquid base and some kind
of surfactant motor oil already has a
liquid base and a surfactant in it so it
bonds well to our magnetite powder to
give us a ferrofluid liquid nitrogen
we’ll freeze our ferrofluid solid so it
remains spiky even when we take our
magnets away from it
if you love these kinds of hands-on
experiments you’re probably the type who
would like to know more about our
sponsor brilliant org brilliant diode
org is a Math & Science enrichment
program which provides their members
with engaging and interesting problems
which helps them understand the concepts
at a more fundamental level the program
is set up so that the problems are
presented in an engaging and addictive
experience and when your brain is more
interested in what it’s learning it
becomes
easier to understand if you have an
interest in increasing your
understanding of math science or
problem-solving brilliant org can help
you achieve those goals to support the
king of random and learn more about
brilliant head to brilliant org slash
king of random the first 567 people will
receive 20% off the annual premium
subscription thanks for joining us for
this video and remember to come gear
yourself up with products and merch at
the king of random calm see you there
your motor oil looks like this in your
car get an oil change and talk to him
the canopy so that part’s not frozen at
all gross
[Music]
[Music]
check the link in the description for a
discount on your first subscription hey
guys I’m Nate welcome back to the
workshop today we’re going to be taking
a little bit of a look at ferrofluid
that’s a liquid that’s attracted to
magnets and make some really cool shapes
when it’s in a magnetic field the basic
recipe for our ferrofluid that we’ll be
making today is one that I got from a
channel called brainiacs 75 they’ve got
a lot of cool videos about ferrofluid so
if you’re interested in seeing more go
check them out before we start making
our ferrofluid I wanted to talk a little
bit about what it is and why some
recipes do and don’t work the basic idea
of a Ferro fluid is a liquid that’s
attracted to a magnetic field this is
done by suspending a ferrous chemical
inside a liquid base toward properly a
ferrofluid needs at least three main
components the first is a magnetic
powder that can be suspended in the
fluid will be using magnetite a
synthetic black iron oxide
once we have our magnetic powder base we
need a fluid to suspend it in and this
is where it can get a little bit tricky
an issue we quickly run into is that
most liquids will not stick to the
microscopically small particles that
make up our magnetic powder we may be
able to get our powder wet but as soon
as a magnet is introduced all of the
particles will stick together so closely
that there’s no longer any space in
between the individual ones for our
fluid base let’s see what happens if we
try mixing our powder with plain water
this cup now has a mixture of a little
bit of water and some of our magnetite
powder you can see that it hasn’t mixed
in very thoroughly at the bottom there’s
still sort of a thick goopy paste with a
thinner black liquid on top of it now
this thinner liquid does have our
magnetite suspended through it pretty
well at this point so you might think
hey that should work won’t that be
magnetic well watch what happens when we
actually put a magnet up against it look
at that it squeezes the magnetic powder
so much that it just pulls all of it
right out of the water you can see we
are now getting water that’s almost
clear again we’ve just pulled all of the
magnet powder right out of there
it does look kind of cool though you can
see all the magnetic powder flowing
through the water over to the magnet so
the water clearly doesn’t work and that
brings us to the third element that we
need in our fair fluid and that’s what’s
called a surfactant the word surfactant
comes from a combination of the words
surface active agent a surfactant is
something that lowers the surface
tension between two substances what
we’re looking for is one that will work
as a wetting agent to make sure that our
liquid base will surround every
individual particle of our magnetite
powder motor-oil does exactly what we’re
looking for it’s a liquid oil base with
surfactants added to make it stick well
to the surface of oil this particular
brand is the same kind that was
recommended by Brainiac 75 on his
channel but I’ve tried it with a couple
of other brands of synthetic motor oil
and they seemed to work just as well so
now let’s take some of our oil and some
of our Mack
type powder mix them together and see
what happens and how it’s different from
mixing it with water now we have our
motor oil in the cup let’s add that get
up outta to it until it becomes a fairly
uniform consistency there we go we now
have a fairly thick liquid mixed up and
that is our Castrol Magnatech oil mixed
with our magnetite powder let’s see how
our liquid responds to a magnet there we
go you can see is definitely getting
pulled on to it there and we’re also
even starting to get a few fun little
shapes forming look at that the walls of
this cup get coated pretty quickly in
our black paste so to make it easier to
see let’s pour our liquid out onto a
plate and then see how it reacts to a
magnet alright let’s move our plate over
our magnet and see how this goes
definitely see your reacting you’re
starting to get some of those cool
little spiky shapes that we’re looking
for from the ferrofluid
that’s pretty cool
all right now let’s watch what happens
if I take the magnet away from the
mixture just kind of puddle back down
have all our fun little spikes take it
away and they all just smooth themselves
right out now that’s pretty neat
but this ceramic magnet is actually not
all that powerful so let’s see what
happens if we use something a little bit
stronger we’ve got four neodymium
magnets all stuck together right here
and this should provide some pretty
intense power hopefully not too much
power let’s see the result I want to
break my plate either oh boy yeah look
at that it’s so close to the magnetic
field and the magnetic field is so
strong that we’re not getting the normal
points we’re looking for but we’re just
getting some interesting plate spots on
the most concentrated bits in the magnet
also see this little puddle of oil in
the middle that’s what I was talking
about by using magnets that are too
powerful it’s actually squishing our
magnetic powder together so powerfully
that it’s squeezing the oil out from in
between the particles try and take this
magnet off and then back it away so it’s
not quite as close to our magnet powder
we’ve added two more plates that should
keep our magnets a little more separated
from our ferrofluid now let’s see how it
reacts
we’re still getting the four different
concentrated points so our four magnets
are clearly not all acting it has one
powerful magnet which makes sense there
we go look at that oh that’s beautiful
those spikes are fantastic as long as I
keep moving the magnet they sort of keep
growing in the magnetic field if I just
hold the magnet still of course they
don’t move anywhere just to illustrate
it it’s only when I’m moving the magnet
that the fluid is moving with it well
that was a pretty powerful magnet now I
also have some ultra powerful knives
these things are huge and so strong I’m
afraid it might be too strong and it
might just pull the magnetic powder
right out of the oil but we got to try
it you’d still like fully an inch away
we’re getting good results though Mike’s
a giant
I look so cool let’s see what happens if
I pull the magnet away well we’ve got
these giant spikes Boop huddled back
down back we got sort of these like
weird ridges instead of regular spikes
not quite what I had in mind but also
kind of neat there we have it our
ferrofluid may not be quite so runny or
thin as some commercially-available
ferrofluids but it does respond well to
magnets and we do get those cool points
sticking out of it just the way we
wanted to one more test I want to try
because I know a lot of you are gonna
want to see it let’s see what happens if
we freeze it with liquid nitrogen I have
a prediction and I think the liquid
nitrogen is going to freeze the motor
oil and it’ll become so rigid that it no
longer responds to the magnets well
let’s find out now pouring the liquid
nitrogen on just like this would be no
fun so let’s try and get some good
spikes on there and then freeze those so
if they stay even when we remove the
magnet all right those some good spikes
on a safety glasses
see about freezing our ferrofluid
hopefully it doesn’t just shatter my
plate it’s a very real possibility I
understand take away the magnet well I
would say we’ve got some good frozen
spice it’s actually got a cool you bet
anymore to keep it nice and frozen and
normally without a magnet these things
are just gone now I’ve got some frozen
motor oil and spike shaped I can poke
them now I got some of the unfrozen
stuff on my magnet that’s a moment there
you go how to make your very own
ferrofluid using magnetite powder and
Castrol Magnatech motor oil this stuff
is pretty fun to play with although I do
recommend you wear gloves because motor
oil is designed to stick to stuff and
this stuff is very black in color so if
you get any other than hands it’s going
to be on your hands and it’s going to
spread to everything you touch it’s
really hard to get off even with soap
and water if you’ve got any ideas on how
to make ferrofluid that’s a thinner
consistency more like the commercially
available ferrofluid let us know down in
the comments I would love to try all of
your ideas and if one of them works
we’ll make an updated video showing you
how to make that kind of ferrofluid and
we’ll send you 25 bucks well now we know
that ferrofluid is made from a magnetic
powder base a liquid base and some kind
of surfactant motor oil already has a
liquid base and a surfactant in it so it
bonds well to our magnetite powder to
give us a ferrofluid liquid nitrogen
we’ll freeze our ferrofluid solid so it
remains spiky even when we take our
magnets away from it
if you love these kinds of hands-on
experiments you’re probably the type who
would like to know more about our
sponsor brilliant org brilliant diode
org is a Math & Science enrichment
program which provides their members
with engaging and interesting problems
which helps them understand the concepts
at a more fundamental level the program
is set up so that the problems are
presented in an engaging and addictive
experience and when your brain is more
interested in what it’s learning it
becomes
easier to understand if you have an
interest in increasing your
understanding of math science or
problem-solving brilliant org can help
you achieve those goals to support the
king of random and learn more about
brilliant head to brilliant org slash
king of random the first 567 people will
receive 20% off the annual premium
subscription thanks for joining us for
this video and remember to come gear
yourself up with products and merch at
the king of random calm see you there
your motor oil looks like this in your
car get an oil change and talk to him
the canopy so that part’s not frozen at
all gross
[Music]
[Music]
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