Hands on! Finally!
My group had the best ferroliquid by far. It worked great and had large spikes with one magnet, but when we combined six or seven it was even better. I found the idea of making a liquid that can be pulled by a magnet interesing because it is so unlike any other material that I have used before. I am sure it has many uses that have not been thought of yet.
Here is what the liquid looks like when a magnet is put near it. When there is no magnetic material near it, it look just like a think black liquid. It kind of remind me of flubber, from the movie, because it seems to come alive and have a mind of its own. By moving it correctly it can even dance.
After playing with the liquid for a while, we moved on to making images on these little tiles. Usually they are used to make circuit boards, but we make little designs on transparent paper and then developed it onto the tile. The process is called photolithography and prints shapes onto silicone.
Here a picture of my design. It turned out pretty well. Some people’s were too detailed to develop clearly. I have to admit that I traced the glasses from a picture I got on my phone though.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ferro_Liquid_Display
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jY72o-JAp0Q
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0119137/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Photolithography
http://www.ece.gatech.edu/research/labs/vc/theory/photolith.html