Isn’t ferrofluid highly toxic if ingested? It’s basically motor oil all things considered, and this feels like the equivalent of putting asbestos in gas mask filters. As while the ferrofluid might work incredibly well and theoretically you won’t ingest any fluid, if any part of the design fails you’re now consuming a toxic substance.
this post was submitted on 14 Apr 2026
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That's pretty neat. I wish they'd included a photo and diagram of a cross-section.
A suction pump with a glass filter would eliminate at least that much microplastic from water, but the problem is that microplastics don't just come from drinking water. It's interesting that the system she's designed uses ferroliquid, but the thing about ferroliquid is that it's more particles in your water that you'll be drinking, even if it's just iron filings. Industrial uses include filtering out dust particles, but usually not out of other liquid that's meant for human consumption.
I would assume a magnet would remove filings. When I was a kid, we had a toy that was a painted piece of cardboard with a facial shape, iron filings, a plastic, beveled cover and a "pencil" with a small magnet in the tip. You "drew" features by dragging the "pencil" over the cover, then lifting it to drop the filings. These were weak magnets, wouldn't pick up a roofing tack.
The fluid was interesting, which was why I was interested in seeing a cutaway view. Anyway, depending on particle size, I don't see it much differently than scrambling eggs in my cast iron skillet with a fork, maybe small enough to pass with daily business and any retained hopefully would be the same as the extra trace iron from eating my eggs prepared in the skillet. I'm not a scientist though, so I may be full of baloney.
yeah would've been good to see
I kept seeing a post about this when I would go on Instagram.