Because ferrofluid is so weird we decided  to ask the impossible question “Can ferrofluid become a solid?”. We’re going to conduct experiments soon. We believe that the spikes are solid. But  they go back into the platter of ferrofluid and move like a liquid. We're  not really sure what to think because the spikes maintain their shape even if you put an object in the way.

Ferrofluid is a strange metal-like substance extremely sensitive to magnets and gravitational pull. When a magnet is placed near ferrofluid the liquid takes a shape with many cone-like  spikes poking out of it. The stronger the magnet the bigger the spikes.

The fluid is a colloidal liquid made of nanoscale ferromagnetic or ferrimagnetic particles suspended in a carrier fluid.the fluid was not naturally made, it was invented by NASA’s Steve papell to create liquid rocket fuel

That could be drawn toward a fuel pump in a weightless

Environment by applying a magnetic field. When placed 

Under a magnetic field it spikes up, as is seen in this 

Picture, but if you put a magnet over the fluid it does 

Not spike up but attaches to the magnet and forms its spike pattern, except,the spikes are a lot smaller. This is because the spikes arise from the tendency of the particles to line up along the magnetic field lines to lower their energy  

surface tension of the fluid however  limits the extent to which the

 particles can align themselves with the field. But, if you put a magnet over Ferrofluid it does not have the same effect, you must remember that ferro fluid has metal in it, so when you put a magnet over it will attach to the magnet just as if it was a magnet.

dependent: During our experiments and research we learned how we can control how big or small the spikes are by putting the magnet close or farther away from the ferrofluid.

Close = small

Farther away = big

Controlled: From the experiments and research we learned how if we put a magnet near ferrofluid it will be consistently attracted, and in other words will go to the magnet.We also saw how  if we put a magnet under the ferrofluid it spikes up.

Responding: In  the conclusion of all three experiments (testing ferrofluid, manipulating lines of force and no friction) only no friction was successful. Can you make ferrofluid into a solid? It turns out  that when the ferrofluid touches the magnet it turns into a solid.

Depentendent: our dependent variable was the state of the ferrofluid.

Independent: our independent variable was the proximity of the magnet.

1. Decided what to do for the Science fair
2. Made and stared on a logbook
3. Worked on the hypothesis
4. Worked on background information and bought the ferrofluid and the super magnet
5.  Worked on the  experiments
6. Finished off the background information,hypothesis,observations,experiments and the “ferrofluid logo
7. Worked on the pictures
8. We worked on the results
9. We printed and glued everything on the trifold

Experiment 1: Testing  ferrofluid

So we’ve just done our first ferrofluid experiment with 2 different magnets. With the smaller magnet when we put it right on the bottom we got the same spikes that we got when we put the super magnet 2 inches away. But when we put it on the bottom the spikes shot up really really fast then came down leaving ferrofluid on the top. Then there were a bunch of  tiny spikes but none in the middle. We also saw that when  you put the magnet closer to the fluid the spikes get smaller, but when you put it farther away the spikes get bigger.

Experiment 2: Manipulating Lines of Force

The goal for this experiment was to see if the lines of force with objects in the way for the magnet. To do this we put stuff between the magnet and the ferrofluid. The result of this was that the magnet was so attracted to the ferrofluid  it didn’t matter if something was in the way; we got the exact same result as Experiment 1.

Experiment 3: No Friction

 In this experiment we wondered what would happen if we put ferrofluid on  the magnet instead of separating them. The result of this experiment was that the ferrofluid covered the magnet and moved like it had no friction at all. We moved it like a couple degrees to the side and it moved across the plate in a couple seconds. The weird part about this though was that we put the plate on the table and then put  the magnet with ferrofluid on the plate. Usually if we follow the laws of gravity it would just stay there and not move at all, but it did. It moved so smoothly and moved just like it was being controlled. We noticed that it moved like this only when there was a certain amount of ferrofluid on the magnet. Once it had basically painted off most of the ferrofluid, we had to tilt it and move the plate around for it to slide. It also did not move as smoothly as before. This experiment was A Success because the ferrofluid on the magnet was solid.

So our mission to turn ferrofluid into a solid was a success. When the ferrofluid got on the magnet in the experiment “No friction” it just turned solid and would not get off until we tried using magnets to get it off. We got some ferrofluid off but not all: it was just molded to the bottom of the magnet and we only got some of it off.

While researching ferrofluid we used youtube for how to properly use ferrofluid with the magnets and what supplies we need.  We used Wikipedia for background information. And we used the “find out how ferrofluid Adventure science kit instruction booklet & Experiment guid”. For experiments to run and for info behind the experiments. We bought the ferrofluid, the black magnet, the dropper, the medium super magnet and the super magnet was all bought on amazon.