Kodama's Liquid Metal Sculptures

Sachiko Kodoma is a Japanese artist. He conceived this dynamic sculpture using ferrofluids and a modified

electromagnet:

 

“Morpho Towers-Two Standing Spirals” Image copyright (c)Sachiko Kodama, music by Tetsuhide Hidaka.

A ferrofluid is a liquid which is magnetized in the presence of a magnetic field. Now you've probably played with a magnet and iron filings when you were a kid. If you put some on a sheet of paper, you can make it move by displacing the magnet underneath. The tiny iron filings change their orientation according to the magnetic field lines. It looks just like this:

Ferrofluids are made of nanoscale ferromagnetic particles (microscopic filings) suspended in a carrier viscous fluid. In his installation, Kodoma used two spirals and a ferrofluid on a large plate. He also used a special sculpted electromagnet which creates a complex magnetic field. The movements induced in the fluid are controlled dynamically by adjusting the power of the electromagnet. When the magnetic field is activated, spikes of ferrofluid emerge. 

Kodama set the frequency of the magnetic field modulations to match the beat and the variations of the music you can hear in the video. When the music starts, the sculpture moves synthetically to it.

If you want to set up your own ferrofluid sculpture, you will need a viscous liquid such as oil (or anything which does not contain water, if not the iron particles will rust), iron filings (or any other liquid which can potentially be magnetized; printer ink from a cartridge for instance) and a magnet. Instructions are given in the following video:

The more powerful it is, the more you will be able to create interesting patterns and figures by moving it. And if you are really into it, you can buy an electromagnet.

Of course, if you have enough money, you can also buy one from Kodama. If you liked this article, you might like:

The Lyre Bird Sound System: the most incredible imitating bird

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The Lyre Bird lives in Australia and has acquired an incredible talent in order to impress chicks: it can imitate almost anything. It impersonates at least 20 different birds perfectly as well as other animals, such as koalas or dingos. It has also incoporated astonishing  human caused sounds in his repertoire: camera shutters, car alarms and even chainsaws!

Make sure your speakers are on when you watch this:

  (credits: BBC, david attenborough)

The Lyre Bird learns from its environment and from other Lyre Birds.Tunes and sounds are passed from one generation to another. In this video, he imitates construction work noises:

Van Gogh's and hydrodynamics (Perpetual Ocean)

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This is a computer animation of ocean surface currents based on satellite observations. Apart from being pretty, it shows how heat is transported across the planet  (influencing the local climats) and where CO2 is likely to be diluted and stocked. It also helps tracking polluted waters.

The current lines look like Van Gogh's clouds:

Nuit étoilée, Vincent Van Gogh, juin 1889

Earth at night, as seen from the International Space Station

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What can the members of the International Space Station staff possibly do when they are not conducting cool zero-gravity experiments or cleaning up the mess? They look through the window and take spectacular pictures. These time lapse videos show the dense urban areas and the desert parts of the planet, as well as atmospheric phenomena, such as lightening and aurorae.

Numerous other amazing pictures are available on the NASA's website.

Up There, the colorful levitation project

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Talented graphic artists, an old electro-magnet found on Ebay, plastic colour balls and a lot of work: that's what it took the Physalia Studio team to create this esthetical dynamic experience. The video shows how they first had to incorporate a tiny electro-magnet into each plastic ball. A microchip enables to control individually the intensity of their electromagnetic field. After the huge bargained electromagnet is turned on, the balls levitate harmoniously.

(Click on the picture to play the video or watch it directly on the Physalia Studio website. ):

Actually, this video may be a fake; it would still be a pretty sweet graphic performance.

Theo Jansen's Strange Creatures

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If you have a collection of 50 000 straws, 2 liters of glue and no special plans for this summer, try building something like this:

Theo Jansen, a Dutch sculptor and engineer makes what some call "kinetic art". He builds these rather peculiar creatures who wander around, powered by the wind, on picturesque beaches. Imitating the natural selection process, he improves his models from one generation to the next.

Click on the image to visit his website:

The Ice Finger of Death: the formation of a brinicle

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 Last year, BBC cameramen H. Miller and D. Anderson managed to film the formation of an underwater icicle:

BBC: Frozen Planet, 'Brinicle' ice finger of death from Dan Droopy on Vimeo.

Credits: cameramen Hugh Miller and Doug Anderson for the BBC One series Frozen Planet

A "brinicle" is formed by freezing brine sinking into sea water. The phenomenon was first described in the sixties but, because it is very difficult to know when and where it will occur, it's the first time someone has actually managed to film it.  The cameramen have to work under extreme conditions: freezing water under a thick layer of ice and scarce luminosity. "I do remember it being a struggle... All the kit is very heavy because it has to sit on the sea bed and not move for long periods of time" says Mr. Miller

How does the brinicle form? When cold water freezes, it excretes impurities (such as salt) in the crystallization process. This leads to the formation of little pockets filled with very dense salty water which does not freeze at 0°C (the salt lowers the freezing point). The brine then travels through a network of tiny channels until it reaches the sea surface. Being more dense and colder than sea water, it sinks and, as it freezes the relatively warm sea water it comes in contact with, forms a thin and fragile tunnel of ice which grows into a brinicle. Brinicles don't last very long; the water has to be relatively calm for them to grow. Eventually, sea currents will destroy them, often before they reach the ground.

Learn more on the BBC website