I missed this video when Scott Lawson released it in 2013. It’s a 50 second timelapse taken over 1.5 hour period, showing some magnetic silly putty surrounding itself around a neodymium magnet.
The magnetic putty will eventually arrange itself so that the outer surface is as evenly distributed around the magnet as possible.
Ferromagnetic particles in the putty are strongly attracted to the magnet and very slowly engulf the surface of the magnet. The magnet shown in the picture is a strong neodymium iron boron magnet. It’s a very powerful magnet for its size and could erase magnetic stripes found in credit cards and damage electronics!
The putty looks and feels like regular silly putty, but the difference lies in the fact that it has been infused with millions of micron-sized ferrous particles (most often iron oxide powder). The magnetic putty is not actually magnetic by itself, since the infused particles are made of iron powder.
The putty seen here can be purchased in the UK on Amazon.
More magnetic putty fun:
