MrHomeScientist
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Cleaning Ferrofluid Residue from Glassware
I recently made a batch of ferrofluid via the method at http://www.sci-spot.com/Chemistry/liqimag.htm
After finishing, the sides of my erlenmeyer were coated with some leftover magnetite and other brownish stains, likely from the kerosene. Any ideas on
how to clean this off? Washing with water didn't seem to do much, but I'm hoping there's some other solvent I could use. As per the instructions, my
ferrofluid (and thus any residue) contains magnetite particles, oleic acid, and kerosene.
On a somewhat related note, my ferrofluid didn't exhibit any spiking. It is definitely attracted to a magnet, but just forms a blob that follows the
field rather than nice spikes. Any ideas why that might have happened? I suspect I didn't heat the ammonia solution long enough to drive off all the
ammonia as gas, or perhaps that I didn't stir the oleic acid long enough for it to coat everything well enough. Any thoughts or improvements on the
process?
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not_important
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Wash with a little acetone a couple of times, to wash out water and then some of the kerosene. The try any organic solvent, even paint thinner, along
with a flask brush to rub stuff off the walls. Finally finish with a little acetone or solvent alcohol, then soapy water to get all the organics.
Moderately dilute acids, HCl or H2SO4 or even oxalic, should remove remaining iron stains.
You could skip the organic solvents if there doesn't seem to be much of an 'oily' phase, soap and water with brush, then rinse with plain tap water,
then the acids to remove iron stains, followed by another rinse.
The magnetic field may be too weak to give well defined normal-field instability. Otherwise try again and modify things as you suggested - better
stirring, longer boiling, and make sure the amounts used match the example.
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MrHomeScientist
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Those are all excellent tips, thanks very much! I'll give that a try this weekend and see how it goes.
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blogfast25
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Quote: Originally posted by MrHomeScientist  | I recently made a batch of ferrofluid via the method at http://www.sci-spot.com/Chemistry/liqimag.htm
On a somewhat related note, my ferrofluid didn't exhibit any spiking. It is definitely attracted to a magnet, but just forms a blob that follows the
field rather than nice spikes. Any ideas why that might have happened? I suspect I didn't heat the ammonia solution long enough to drive off all the
ammonia as gas, or perhaps that I didn't stir the oleic acid long enough for it to coat everything well enough. Any thoughts or improvements on the
process? |
I suggest to… leave it to stand! Mine didn’t spike either (I used the same procedure from the same site). It was definitely quite paramagnetic but
not strongly. I kept the bottle and I noticed that over the months it separated into a clear supernatant liquid (top) and a (black) magnetite
containing bottom. Logic dictates that the bottom fraction must be considerably richer in magnetite than the original suspension.
Unfortunately I sacrificed my only neomagnet to make some NdCl3, so I can’t test for spikes…
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MrHomeScientist
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That's pretty interesting, blogfast. I've actually noticed some settling already, but in my case it's water filtering out from the thick ferrofluid
solution. When I made it, I pipette'd (if that's a word) the top layer into a jar for storage, and over 3 or 4 days now I've noticed a small clear
layer settling at the bottom of my jar. So I was thinking that would be part of the problem, just extra water trapped in the ferrofluid. As you said,
extra kerosene seems likely too!
You know what's interesting is I actually did notice some spiking, only because I made a pretty stupid mistake when making it. When I added
the kerosene to the solution, to mix it up I figured "hey I'll just use my fancy new magnetic stir plate!" That wasn't my best idea. When I took it
out, the stir bar was coated with ferrofluid and actually exhibited some pretty nice spiking behavior at the poles. I'll post a photo of it here when
I get home. In retrospect it's sort of obvious that it's not a great idea to drop a magnet into a liquid that's attracted to magnets 
Anyways I'll keep mine under observation for a bit and see what it does. Thanks for the input!
edit: By the way, I found that website through a post of yours blogfast, so I was hoping you'd have some input for me since you had experience with it
 Thanks!
[Edited on 1-26-2011 by MrHomeScientist]
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a_bab
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blogfast25, you can get find NdB magnets in the following items:
- an old harddrive
- CD or DVD player
- mobile phone vibrator (actually a small motor)
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blogfast25
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| Quote: Originally posted by a_bab | blogfast25, you can get find NdB magnets in the following items:
- an old harddrive
- CD or DVD player
- mobile phone vibrator (actually a small motor) |
I've got a 'PC hospital' kind of shop around the corner collecting kaput hard drives for me for months now but they haven't delivered yet. Must follow
up on that. Beware some of the older supermagnets are samarium based.
And the streets of eBay are paved with people selling neomagnets nowadays...
[Edited on 26-1-2011 by blogfast25]
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thesmug
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Ferrofluid Stains
Hello there. Several weeks ago I made some ferrofluid with the process detailed at http://www.sci-spot.com/Chemistry/liqimag.htm and everything went well. Except that my gloves (half neoprene, half latex) are horribly stained
with the ferrofluid (mostly kerosene). The stains rub off on everything, but remain fully intact on the gloves themselves. They do come off with
acetone, but it takes a LOT of rubbing to get it out. Do you guys have any suggestions on what else I should try to get the stains out?
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Brain&Force
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http://www.sciencemadness.org/talk/viewthread.php?tid=15355
Use the forum search engine.
I would soak the gloves in acetone, then remove the stains with dilute HCl (add hydrogen peroxide if nothing seems to be happening).
At the end of the day, simulating atoms doesn't beat working with the real things...
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bfesser
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Threads Merged
18-1-2014 at 18:13 |
thesmug
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Ok, I will try that. Thanks!
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IrC
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| Quote: Originally posted by MrHomeScientist | I recently made a batch of ferrofluid via the method at http://www.sci-spot.com/Chemistry/liqimag.htm
After finishing, the sides of my erlenmeyer were coated with some leftover magnetite and other brownish stains, likely from the kerosene. Any ideas on
how to clean this off? Washing with water didn't seem to do much, but I'm hoping there's some other solvent I could use. As per the instructions, my
ferrofluid (and thus any residue) contains magnetite particles, oleic acid, and kerosene. |
The page has been up a long time yet I notice at the bottom:
READER QUESTIONS
NONE YET, BE THE FIRST!
Would seem to me you should post this question there in addition to here if for no other reason than the fact the person has most likely dealt with
this already. If they give an answer don't forget to copy it here since it would be a good addition to this thread. Also not a bad idea to ask about
the settling as well as the spiking problems. Nothing beats going to the most experienced person when one has questions.
"Science is the belief in the ignorance of the experts" Richard Feynman
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