The Magic In Your Speakers

Ferrofluid. If you've read any product descriptions that talk about tweeter technology, you've surely heard this term before. Ferrofluid is a paramagnetic substance that's basically a suspension of particles which exhibit magnetic properties when a magnet is charging them. Take the magnet away and it's just a solution. Very weird stuff.

It's used in tweeters between the voicecoil and magnet to keep the motor structure stable and cool. The tweeter's magnet excites the ferrofluid and helps maintains the structure, and the fluid also acts as heat transfer system, pulling heat away from the voicecoil. All that's great of course, but until I saw the video below on Engadget, I really had no idea how cool this stuff actually is! This work of art was developed by a Japanese artists using two electromagnetically charged metal spikes in a pool of ferrofluid. The spikes' magnetic fields are charged by music-based electronic signal, creating an ever-changing electromagnetic field. The ferrofluid reacts to the magnetic field, forming ever changing solid-but-fluid magnetic spikes that travel around the solid metal spikes. And you thought LED and neons pulsing to music was cool!