Ferrofluid Polls- Science Fair

Ferrofluid Polls- Science Fair

1)   Do you know what a Ferrofluid is?

Yes:  39

No: 10

2)   What ingredient do you think used in ferrofluid?

Kerosene: 36

Acetone: 4

Sulfuric Acid: 9

3)   How long do you think you boil ingredients in order to make a ferrofluid?

Under an Hour: 10

1-2 Hours: 35

4-6 Hours: 4

4)   Pick one use of ferrofluid?

Identifies Cancer: 35

Inside Football: 10

Seals a Jump Rope: 4

5)   When are there more spikes in a ferrofluid

When a magnet is closer: 39

When a magnet is further:  10

Ferrofluid questionaire

Ferrofluids

Ray Pioppo and Amanda Berger

1. Do you know what a ferrofluid is?
   Yes No
   
   
2. What ingredient do you think is used in ferrofluid?
   Kerosene        Acetone       Sulfuric Acid

3. How long do you think you boil ingredients in order to make a ferrofluid?
   Under an hour     1-2 hours      4-6 hours

4. Pick one use of ferrofluids.
   Identifies cancer      Inside footballs      Seals a jumprope

5. When are there more spikes in the ferrofluid?
   When a magnet is closer       When a magnet is further

pictures

May 4

Today Ray and I finished our ferrofluid. First we added 200ml of kerosene to our mixture. The mixture then turned orange with bubbles on the top. Our mixture of ferrofluid was supposed to have a dark substance on the top of two layers. However, we had five different color orange layers. We divided the layers in to separate beakers to test if they would react to the magnet even though they did not look right. Unfortunately, none of the mixtures reacted to the substances. Therefore, we were not successful in creating ferrofluid. As a team Ray and I still learned new information on ferrofluid and how to correctly make it next time we try. 

May 3

Today Ray and I heated the mixture for an hour. Specifically, we first put the mixture on a hot plate and stirred it while it was heating. Then we move the heated mixture to the bunsen burner until it came to a boil. While, the mixture was boiling we added 10 ml of oleic acid. We kept the mixture boiling until it smelt like ammonium. Once it started to smell we then cooled it and cover it until tomorrow.   Tomorrow, May 4 ray and I will add kerosene and finish our ferrofluid. Later at night during study hall, Ray and I went to see our future ferrofluid and it was broken up into 3 layers.

May 2, 2012

Today Ray and I worked on making ferrofluid again. Since we did not have ferric chloride we had to substitute it with 40 ml of the green ferrous chloride. We added the 40 ml of the green ferrous chloride to the brown ferrous chloride mixture. Then we added 400 ml of ammonia to the ferrous chloride mixture. The color of this new mixture of Ferric Chloride and Ammonia is now a dark brown. Tomorrow, we are going to heat the mixture for an hour and ass oleic acid. 

May 2nd

In class today, Amanda and I continued making our ferrofluid following the procedure instructions we made up serveral days ago. When we arrived to Mr.McCarthy's room, we were happy to find that there was a dramatic color change in the ferrofluid mixture. Since we made two samples of ferrofluid in class yesterday, we were able to utilize both by mixing them together. We poured 40mLs of the bright green ferrofluid into 40mLs of the dark brown ferrofluid. We then mixed the two, which changed the color of the liquids. We then added 400mLs of ammonia to the liquid and slowly stirred the mixture. Unfortunately, we didn't have time to cook the mixture today because it required at least an hour to boil it. We agreed that we would go to physics early tomorrow so that we'd have enough time to boil the substance. We hope the turnout of the mixture will be in line for our experiment.