Uploaded July 2013 | Updated September 2026, 1 day ago
Yay, the first test worked, very motivating :)
So first off I just tried "dropping" a pile of the "low grade"(vinegar burn of product) ferrous powder.
It worked, conductivity dropped and the circuit voltage fell as the pile slid over and covered the cathode.
Next I built a small "tower" to mount a chamber with an agitator (actually I re-used the base I am building for another experiment). The chamber can be filled, and has an anode in it. On the side of the chamber is a small device, it is a nail, wrapped in magnet wire, and it has a copper contact in front of it. The nail is coated in cyano-acrylate, to insulate and water proof. The cathode is just over the head of the nail, which is inside the chamber and exposed to the water.
When the electro-magnet is turned up the current between cathode and anode is impeded by the particulate collecting around the cathode.
Tested a few setting between 1.5 and 12 volts. higher voltage produce more significant results.
I am concerned the particles are conducting, so I have added "try binding insulators to the particulate" to my todo list. Binding something to them without causing them all to bind to each other actually seems a little scary might be hard.
Also have to look into other configurations of magnet/cathode and find the most effective.
Road looks somewhat promising, but should be a challenge.
On to more experiments :D
edit:Some people have asked "What are you trying to accomplish"
i guess it is best defined as "Technology art"
I am trying to build circuits using water as the conductive medium as much as possible. I know I have little hope of producing anything with "commercial value", but with nano tech coming up I think this kinda of approach has potential.
after all we are all just molecular water computers. (nerves have "wires" in them but pass signals between each other as ions and neurotransmitters through water, that is how nerves achieve signal gain)
also, i just kinda wanna dispel some of the misconceptions about water and electricity.. they are actually quite fun
long story short...
im trying to build a "water computer".. as crazy as that sounds
Yay, the first test worked, very motivating :)
So first off I just tried "dropping" a pile of the "low grade"(vinegar burn of product) ferrous powder.
It worked, conductivity dropped and the circuit voltage fell as the pile slid over and covered the cathode.
Next I built a small "tower" to mount a chamber with an agitator (actually I re-used the base I am building for another experiment). The chamber can be filled, and has an anode in it. On the side of the chamber is a small device, it is a nail, wrapped in magnet wire, and it has a copper contact in front of it. The nail is coated in cyano-acrylate, to insulate and water proof. The cathode is just over the head of the nail, which is inside the chamber and exposed to the water.
When the electro-magnet is turned up the current between cathode and anode is impeded by the particulate collecting around the cathode.
Tested a few setting between 1.5 and 12 volts. higher voltage produce more significant results.
I am concerned the particles are conducting, so I have added "try binding insulators to the particulate" to my todo list. Binding something to them without causing them all to bind to each other actually seems a little scary might be hard.
Also have to look into other configurations of magnet/cathode and find the most effective.
Road looks somewhat promising, but should be a challenge.
On to more experiments :D
edit:Some people have asked "What are you trying to accomplish"
i guess it is best defined as "Technology art"
I am trying to build circuits using water as the conductive medium as much as possible. I know I have little hope of producing anything with "commercial value", but with nano tech coming up I think this kinda of approach has potential.
after all we are all just molecular water computers. (nerves have "wires" in them but pass signals between each other as ions and neurotransmitters through water, that is how nerves achieve signal gain)
also, i just kinda wanna dispel some of the misconceptions about water and electricity.. they are actually quite fun
long story short...
im trying to build a "water computer".. as crazy as that sounds
