A ferrofluid becomes strongly magnetized when placed in a magnetic field. This liquid is made up of very tiny (10 nanometers or less) particles coated with anti-clumping surfactants and then mixed with water (or solvents). These particles don’t “settle out” but rather remain suspended in the fluid.


The particles themselves are made up of either magnetite, hematite or iron-type substance.


Ferrofluids don’t stay magnetized when you remove the magnetic field, which makes them “super-paramagnets” rather than ferromagnets. Ferrofluids also lose their magnetic properties at and above  their Curie temperature points.


Ferrofluids are what scientists call “colloidal suspensions”, which means that the substance has properties of both solid metal and liquid water (or oil), and it can change phase easily between the two. (We as show you this in the video below.) Because ferrofluids can change phases when a magnetic field is applied, you’ll find ferrofluids used as seals, lubricants, and many other engineering-related uses.


Here’s a video on toner cartridges and how to make your own homemade ferrofluid. It’s a bit longer than our usual video, but we thought you’d enjoy the extra content.


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20 Responses to “Ferrofluid”

  1. rachel_davis says:

    It’s like magnetic Oobleck! Edible Oobleck is cornstarch and water, plus you can mix in some food coloring to make it even better. My sisters and I made it several times and we lloved and still love it.

  2. Can you share the url you’re looking at? I am not seeing where you are finding “NOT FOR KIDS”. Can you help me understand your question?

  3. talaljabari says:

    for magnets I was looking at it said NOT FOR KIDS why

  4. You can still use it, as long as it’s from a laser printer. Just follow the instructions in the video for making the ferrofluid.

  5. thofma12b says:

    Hi. Our toner cartridge is not a giant one, but several small ones. What can we do if that’s the case?

  6. Melissa Sikorski says:

    Oh my gosh that is so weirdly awesome!

  8. Hi Terri – thanks for writing! Without seeing your experiment directly, my best guess is that you need to up the strength of your magnet. Use neodymium magnets (like those from KJ Magnetics) and make the solution as thick as possible. As far as I’ve experimented with, it doesn’t matter the name brand of the toner cartridge – they all use the same stuff inside that reacts with the magnets. We got an armload of these for free from our local office supply store, and then also from small print shops in town (ask if you can leave a box for them to put their toner cartridges in that you can pick up later in the week). Hope this helps!

  9. Terri Cleary says:

    The black powder that came out of the Toshiba toner cartridge failed to react with the magnets we used. Do we need a stronger magnet (used bar, ceramic, and rare earth)? Does Toshiba toner have less ferrous material than others? We have access to only this one type. We tried to purchase used cartridges from local office supplies stores without success.

  10. Derrick Ramsey says:

    My friend did a science project on this! He was trying to find out of the sound waves of music affected the magnetism of the Ferrofluid… his results were inconclusive though.

  11. Louise Bingham says:

    Hello Aurora-

    I was thinking it would be cool to own some ferrofluid, not home made but industrial so it forms spikes instead of a blob.

    Dylan Bingham
    son of Louise Bingham

  12. jenna6234 says:

    great video LOVE IT!!!!!!

  13. Kaelen Davis says:

    Nice! I was watching it and taking notes on it, when I hit some button that made it go back to the beginning, and I was half way through, and wasn’t able to finish. I’m going to try it again, though and try not to hit any buttons! 🙂

  15. Kaelen Davis says:

    Isn’t the experiment about making Ferrofluid?

  16. Lorelei Grecian says:

    Wow your right that is expensive! But thanks anyway 😀

  18. Lorelei Grecian says:

    Where can you get Ferrofluid? I thinks its very cool! 🙂

  19. Al is one of the masterminds behind Supercharged Science… and he’s my husband, too!

  20. Lorelei Grecian says:

    Aurora, who is Al?