A good median for ferrofluid?

[Spence]

Hello everybody,

This is my first ever post on this site, and I am still a student, so correct me if any terminology I use is wrong. I won't take it personally.

I'm attempting to synthesize ferrofluids for my chemistry class, and I'm looking for a good median to keep it in. I don;t have access to hydrophobic glass, and I want to keep it in something that won't get all mucked up with the residue ferrofluids tend to leave behind.

Anny suggestions would be appreciated. Thanks in advance!

 

-Spence

[hermanntrude]

hi

 

There is more than one type of ferrofluid, but the most common one is kerosene-based and yes it does stain pretty much everything. However, I made some last year and kept it in glass bottles with very little trouble. It did kind of stain the glass but not in a terrible manner, you could still see through it. Mine was very good ferrofluid, though I have to admit. It flocculated pretty fast, and I never got any spikes, even with neodymium magnets.

 

If you have access to the materials, the water-based one would be less stain-y...

 

A very useful tool for demonstrating your ferrofluid is a small dish made of aluminum foil. They're usually used for weighing things in. they're disposable but also thin enough for the magnetic field to be as strong as possible.