Algorithmic worlds

Search blog posts

Next posts

2012-03-30 Periodic Julia patterns

2012-03-25 Conformally invariant patt...

2012-03-21 In Flight

2012-03-16 Spherical worlds

2012-03-02 Ferrofluids

2012-02-26 Starry Night

2012-02-12 The Scale of the Universe

2012-01-17 Internet strike

2012-01-01 Gravity Stools

2011-11-01 Two animations

Previous posts

Blog

A blog about algorithmic art and fractal aesthetic. Subscribe to the RSS feed.

March 2nd 2012

Ferrofluids

Ferrofluids are liquids containing magnetized nanoparticles in suspension, which makes the liquid sensitive to magnetic fields. Magnetic forces combined with the surface tension of the liquid produce surprising effects.

There are now many videos on the internet showing the nice "spikes" that the liquid developps when a magnet is placed above or under it. See for instance this video.

The following video is more unusual. The ferrofluid lies in a shallow dish, together with a transparent liquid with which it cannot mix. Because the pool is shallow, it cannot develop spikes and rather display interesting wall structures, quite reminiscent of Turing patterns.

Ferrofluids already appeared once on this blog. The second video above was spotted on this nice tumblr blog, featuring various effects related to fluid dynamics.