Re: Subject: Re: Recipe For "Funny" Liquid

[William Beaty <billb@ESKIMO.COM>]

On Fri, 22 Sep 2000, Chuck Britton wrote:

> >  > an electrically charged object near the flowing liquid. A rubber
> >  > balloon will 'solidify' the stuff.
> >  >
> >
> > I cannot wait to try this! Is there a reference on the physics?

Electrorheological fluid.  An e-field makes the suspended particles cling
together.  There was an article on it last year when somebody discovered
that chocolate syrup could do this too.  I bet the cornstarch/oil works
better though.  Less leakage current.

Magnetorheological fluid does the same, but with b-fields and ferrous
particles.  Try mixing powdered iron with oil and keep it near a huge
magnet. It should stay fairly hard unless you move it too far from the
magnet.  I never tried that, but I did notice that something similar
occurs with a big pile of tiny screws or washers (no oil.)  The screws act
like a wad of clay when near a large stack of ceramic loudspeaker magnets,
but if you move too far from the magnet, they pour out of your hands and
scatter across the floor.


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William J. Beaty                                  SCIENCE HOBBYIST website
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