In the past we have played with magnets. We’ve made our own compasses and explored dollar bills with magnets. Recently though we discovered magnetic mud!!
Have you ever heard of ferrofluid? Until a month or two ago I hadn’t – boy was I missing out!
Today, we broke out our test tubes and left over iron oxide powder from when we made our own tinted sunscreen and made ferrofluid. Our magnetic mud would make a terrific science fair project!
What is FerroFluid?
Ferrofluid is a suspension of tiny, tiny particles of metal that are responsive to magnetic fields (like iron or nickle) mixed into an oil solution.
It looks like a liquid and acts like a liquid, but as it contains little bits of magetic-responsive metal, it moves with magnets. For our solution we used powdered rust (iron oxide).
SO* cool. I think I played with it for a good twenty minuets when my kids were done. It is mesmerizing.
Warning About This Magnetic Science Project
NOTE: You will want to be careful with kids in this experiment. Your kids should not eat the iron.
As it is in powder form it *might* be able to be absorbed into the bloodstream if ingested and iron overdoses in kids can be very dangerous. Also, the iron oxide powder stains everything.
You might want to mix it outdoors and with disposable containers. I mixed the iron and let the kids play with the test tubes when we were finished.
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Supplies Needed To Make Ferrofluid (aka magnetic mud)
Materials:
- Vegetable Oil
- Iron Oxide Powder
- Disposable spoon and bowl
- Test Tube
- Face mask and/or gloves – you don’t want to inhale the powdered metal or stain your hands.
How To Make Ferrofluid (aka magnetic mud):
To make this DIY ferrofluid, you will need to:
- Mix the iron oxide powder into 1/4 cup of oil.
- We mixed it a tablespoon at a time and stirred until it was completely mixed in, smooth, no clumps, but also a bit thick.
- Drop the mud into a test tube filled with water. Cork it and then use the magnet to move the iron “mud” around the tube.
- Use multiple magnets to see if you can get the blog to move in multiple directions at the same time.
Hope your kids have fun learning about metals, suspensions, magnetic qualities – all with our Iron Mud.
Make science exciting with this ferrofluid. Ferrofluid acts like a liquid, but can be manipulated with a magnet. So cool!
Prep Time 10 minutes
Active Time 20 minutes
Total Time 30 minutes
Difficulty easy
Estimated Cost $15-$20
Materials
- Vegetable Oil
- Iron Oxide Powder
- Disposable spoon and bowl
- Test Tube
Tools
- Face mask and/or gloves - you don't want to inhale the powdered metal or stain your hands.
Instructions
- Mix the iron oxide powder into 1/4 cup of oil. We mixed it a tablespoon at a time and stirred until it was completely mixed in, smooth, no clumps, but also a bit thick.
- Drop the mud into a test tube filled with water.
- Cork it and then use the magnet to move the iron "mud" around the tube.
- Use multiple magnets to see if you can get the blog to move in multiple directions at the same time.
Notes
You will want to be careful with kids in this experiment. Your kids should not eat the iron. As it is in powder form it *might* be able to be absorbed into the bloodstream if ingested and iron overdoses in kids can be very dangerous. Also, the iron oxide powder stains everything. You might want to mix it outdoors and with disposable containers. I mixed the iron and let the kids play with the test tubes when we were finished.
More Fun Science Experiments For Kids
Keeping the magnetic fun going, try this magnetic slime! It would make a really neat magnet science project.
Want something different? Try this 10 awesome weather science experiments.
Want some excitement? Check out this exploding bag experiment. It is so cool!
Source: https://kidsactivitiesblog.com/56355/magnetic-mud-science-experiment/
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