Non-Newtonian Fluids

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parkview
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Non-Newtonian Fluids

Post by parkview » Sat Sep 19, 2015 7:45 pm

I was writing up this forum post on Oscilloscopes and escaping smoke: http://forum.swmakers.org/viewtopic.php?f=10&t=34&p=601#p601. It reminded me of this adventure...

Remember back to the naughty's and watching people run up and down on a pool of non-newtonian fluid (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Non-Newtonian_fluid)? My son and I wanted to have a play with it too, but not wanting to splash out and purchase a pool and a truck load of corn starch, instead we dug up my old trusty signal generator and an old loudspeaker and covered it in cling wrap.

My son and I set it all up on the kitchen bench:
signal generator and speaker.jpg
signal generator and speaker.jpg (36.74 KiB) Viewed 4058 times


While the cling wrap was a good idea, it just wasn't bouncy enough, so I sacrificed the old 1950's loudspeaker to science and just placed the fluid directly on to the speaker surface:

non-newtonian fluid in action.jpg
non-newtonian fluid in action.jpg (27.19 KiB) Viewed 4058 times


I also needed a louder sound source, so I dug up my first trusty amplifier that I had salvaged back in 1975. It was a 1940's 20Kg mono unit. I initially used it for a fe3w years with my home made crystal radio. I think the speaker was the one I used with the radio as well.

The above poor quality photo (screenshot of an science action video), shows the fingers of fluid starting to rise up... then seconds later...

electrons started to escape...

smoking electrons.jpg
smoking electrons.jpg (50.34 KiB) Viewed 4058 times


The unit was quickly turned off and taken outside. While the amplifier had a lot of sentimental value, due to it's size and weight, I knew that restoring it would be down near the bottom of the project list, so it went off to the electronics section of the local tip.

It was a fun science adventure though :D

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BeJay
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Re: Non-Newtonian Fluids

Post by BeJay » Tue Sep 22, 2015 10:30 pm

First look, It looked like it was lower than the 15R it's used to ;)

I cooked a Class A that way as it was designed for a 15R load not 8R.

Just wondering if you fell for that or it was a age factor for the failed components..

I must do this Non-Newtonian experiment again with my 1200W mono block and post videos ;)

Keep up the good work Paul!

Cheers

Bj

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Jubbp
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Re: Non-Newtonian Fluids

Post by Jubbp » Wed Sep 23, 2015 9:29 am

My 2 cents,

WTF - Sacrifice a new one .....

and

maybe if you put the gladwrap on loosely so it sits against the speaker membrame

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