The-Observable-Universe.jpg (JPEG Image, 3850 × 1925 pixels) - Scaled (28%) 4002050596_0c2b6c4dd2_o.jpg (JPEG Image, 3861 × 1706 pixels) - Scaled (29%) Out of this world, quite literally: The beautiful and mysterious Fukang meteorite « Believe nothing. Ferrofluid and water colors make for beautiful magnetic paintings. If you haven’t heard of ferrofluid before, prepare to become a fan. It’s basically a liquid that, when placed in a magnetic field becomes strongly magnetized.
This is due to the liquid containing ferromagnetic particles. Ferrofluids are also superparamagnets, as they don’t remain magnetized once the magnetic field is removed. Now that the science is out of the way, we can look at the cool things you can do with a ferrofluid. The most common example you see is the fluid placed in a dish which sits on top of a magnet. The result, as you can see in the image below, forms a shaped surface. They also have a wide range of practical applications such as forming liquid seals around hard drives, helping magnets to glide across smooth surfaces, and even help doctors with cancer detection. Ferrofluids are also popular with artists, and Swiss photographer Fabian Oefner decided to experiment by mixing together a ferrofluid with water colors while placed over a magnetic field.