Magnetic fluid - water flowing upwards

Magnetic fluid is a miraculously miraculous miracle, the brainchild of technical progress and scientific thought of the twentieth century. Unlike the absolute majority of inventions of human genius, such liquid substances, with pronounced magnetic properties, have no analogs in nature. With the rapid development of technology, characteristic of our time, substances with such unusual properties are more and more applications.

A magnetic fluid is a highly disperse suspension, in other words, a colloidal solution of a ferromagnetic material in a conventional liquid medium, which can be either simple water, and hydrocarbons, and silicon or fluoroorganic substances. Such unusual substances have appeared for a long time. Already in the mid-sixties, they were synthesized in the United States and the Soviet Union almost simultaneously.

At that time, magnetic fluids were used in various space programs, which were intensively carried out by two superpowers. To a wider range of scientific community these unusual substances became available relatively recently. Now the magnetic fluid is actively studied by most developed countries with high scientific potential: Japan, France, Germany, Great Britain and others.

These amazing substances are unique in their unrivaled combination of high fluidity with exceptional magnetic properties, which are tens of thousands of orders higher than any of the known liquids. The secret of such phenomenal magnetization lies in the dispersion of ferromagnets to dimensions not exceeding ten nanometers, with their subsequent introduction into the usual liquid medium.

Thus, a substance with initially excellent fluidity turns out to be saturated with an unimaginable number of powerful miniature permanent magnets of spherical shape. Each such nanoparticle is coated with a protective-repellent film, which prevents their sticking. Thermal motion distributes small magnets throughout the volume of matter, so that particles can not settle to the bottom. As a result, the magnetic fluid is able to maintain its unique qualities and performance for many years.

Each such microscopic magnet circulates chaotically in a liquid under the influence of thermal energy. The external magnetic field is used to orient the magnetic moments of microparticles in a certain way, which causes a change in the optical, rheological, and magnetic properties of the colloidal solution. Consequently, a high level of sensitivity of the suspension to an external source of magnetic field makes it possible to regulate their behavior. Thus, the magnetic fluid itself becomes manageable, the application of which becomes possible for solving a wide range of applied problems.

Ferromagnetic suspensions are already used in the manufacture of hard drives, where they are applied to a rotating axis to prevent foreign particles from entering. Such suspensions are also used in the manufacture of high-frequency loudspeakers, in the aerospace and military industries, in optics and medicine, in electronics and in the instrument-making industry.