electromagnets...

So far, the only successful electromagnets that we managed to make were out of transformer coils. Unfortunately we only have enough supplies to make ten for the final project so we spent the majority of the week experimenting with different forms of electromagnets. We finally acquired some enameled wire which greatly helped the process along. Ekta managed to wrap a magnet that caused the ferrofluid to spike:

 

I also tried to make electromagnets that used the ferrofluid as a core so we wouldn't have to worry about sealing the box they are in. These magnets, as seen below, do not spike but form a small bump of ferrofluid. 

The final form of our project will contain magnets which spike (made the same way Ekta made her's). We found a better way to seal the magnets into the acrylic using epoxy clay which passed both water and ferrofluid leak tests which we ran for several consecutive days.