Science/Tech

How to: Ferrofluid

2009-09-23T14:48:00.001-07:00

Ferrofluids are one of the coolest things i know of, but in case you dont know what they are:
Ferrofluids are made up of tiny magnetic fragments of iron suspended in oil (often kerosene) with a surfactant to prevent clumping (usually oleic acid). The fluid is relatively easy to make at home yet extremely expensive to buy on-line ($165 a liter!)*

There are many commercial applications for ferrofluids--speakers and hard drives being the most common. The oily fluid prevents debris from entering hard drives when a small amount is placed between the magnets and shaft. In the case of speakers ferrofluids remove heat from the voice coils and help dampen the cone movement.

Using a magnetic ink developer (MICR) seems to be the easiest way to make a smooth ferrofluid at home.
All you have to do is simply purchase a bag of developer ($20) and add some veggie oil. Using a lower viscosity oil like kerosene or biodiesel along with a surfactant (citric acid, oleic acid, etc.) may improve the quality further.

*info from popsci.com

$150 to See From Outer Space

2009-09-19T09:45:00.000-07:00

I stumbled across this article on popsci and I decided to share it with you. I'm not going to go into many of the details, but apparently, MIT's Icarus team managed to launch a balloon, with a camera, into the outer edges of the atmosphere, and they did it with only $150.

This is what they used:
Item
Weight
Cost
Sounding Balloon 350g from Kaymont
350g
~$20 +$20 (helium)
Parachute
~10g
~$3*
Motorola i290 Prepaid Cellphone
~90g, 3oz
~$50**
Styrofoam Beer Cooler
~15g
~$0
Duct Tape
~10g
~$0
Zip Ties
~5g
~$0
Canon A470 with 8GB SD card
~165g, 5.9 oz
~$40***
Insulation material- newspaper
~5g
~$0
Duracell USB phone charger powered by AA batteries
~20g 1oz
~$10
Instant Hand warmer
~5g
~$2****
4 Ultimate Lithium AA batteries
~15g * 4 = 60 g, 2 oz
~$5
Total
~800g, 28oz /w misc.
~$150

I also found out that a Canon A470 camera, with CHDK software took pics every 5 seconds, which permitted the students to capture the entire journey of the balloon, from start to finish. The launch itself took place on Sept 2nd, 2009, from Sturbridge, MA. The balloon reached a max height of 17.5 miles, which is at the uppermost level of the stratosphere. It then popped and returned back to Earth, safely gliding down with it's parachute. This shows what creativity, junk, and a little persistence can accomplish.

Must Have (soon): Asus' New E-Reader

2009-09-13T15:21:00.001-07:00

Asus has done it again. E-books are getting more and more popular as time progresses, but for a lot of people, they lack certain needs, such as a color screen...or a more inexpensive price. The upcoming Eee Reader, which is due to hit shelves by the end of this year, incorporates both. It also has one more little thing, dual screens.

Some people say that its more a mobile device (with Internet), than an e-book reader, as it even allows you to open a browser on one page, and have a book open on another, OR to make a virtual screen appear on one page to have the feel of a notebook err...net book (considering it's size).

Besides that, it also has a speaker, mic, and webcam for Skype.
Oh, and before i forget, the price that Asus is shooting for is $160, compared to a $299 Kindle 2, by Amazon.*

*info gathered from popsci.com

Future Gadget: Polaris Phone

2009-09-12T18:54:00.000-07:00

Of course, here comes Betty with her awesome new iPhone... she can play games on it.. use it as a GPS...and surf the web, BUT can it look at what you did the other day, and tell you how to improve it??

Check out the Polaris phone, a new phone/system made by KDDI and Japan's Flower Robotics. Its part phone, part robot. That's right, you read that correctly, Robot. It is a three way system that incorporates your TV, phone, and robotic sphere pictured up top. The sphere has speakers for the phone and its music, and wheels, which roll it to the closest power source to charge your phone. The sphere also links up with your TV, and displays all the details of your life and behavior your phone records. It records everything... and when I say everything... I mean it. It follows who you email, where you go, who you call, what you buy...etc It also analyzes your habits based on patterns, and gives you advice.

Unfortunately, this is still a prototype, as the data collection system and Nav part of the sphere need more time and work. Fortunately for us, the company says that it plans to have this gadget available by next year.
So start saving up, cause looking at how it's going so far, this hefty thing is going to eat a relatively large whole through your wallet.