Uploaded July 2020 | Updated September 2026, 2 weeks ago

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My first introduction to rheoscopic fluids (RF) occurred in the fall of 1971, when a woman at college (Susan Herman) gave me a home made bottle of the fluid as a gift. I had never seen anything like it, and was mesmerized.

I recently saw a video by Veritasium about turbulence, and he had an aquarium full of RF, which rekindled my interest:

youtube.com/watch?v=5zI9sG3pjVU

You can learn more about RF here:

instructables.com/id/Making-Rheoscopic-Fluid

I purchased my RF here:

stevespanglerscience.com/store/pearl-swirl-rheoscopic-concentrate.html

I purchased the Tornado here:

walmart.com/ip/KidzLabs-TM-4M-Tornado-Maker/158544265

I use an Arduino and a motor driver to power the motor in the Tornado

This is the lazy susan I purchased:

bedbathandbeyond.com/store/product/copco-12-inch-non-skid-cabinet-lazy-susan/1010932270

I purchased the 12” plexiglass disk on eBay; I purchased the UV curing resin on eBay, but it is something like this:

etsy.com/listing/587576623/clear-transparent-uv-resin