University of Massachusetts Amherst engineers were working on 3D-printing liquids when they discovered that the droplets of iron, oil, and water were able to maintain a magnetic field, thus by accident, scientists have created a metallic liquid capable of maintaining a magnetic field.
For the first time, scientists have created a permanently magnetic liquid. These liquid droplets can morph into various shapes and be externally manipulated to move around.
We typically imagine magnets as being solid, but now we know that “we can make magnets that are liquid and they could conform to different shapes — and the shapes are really up to you.”
Using a technique to 3D-print liquids, the scientists created millimeter-size droplets from water, oil and iron-oxides. The liquid droplets keep their shape because some of the iron-oxide particles bind with surfactants — substances that reduce the surface tension of a liquid.
The surfactants create a film around the liquid water, with some iron-oxide particles creating part of the filmy barrier, and the rest of the particles enclosed inside.
The team then placed the millimeter-size droplets near a magnetic coil to magnetize them. But when they took the magnetic coil away, the droplets demonstrated an unseen behavior in liquids — they remained magnetized.
The scientists don’t fully understand how these particles hold onto the field. Once they figure that out, there are many potential applications.
Reference- Futurism, LiveScience