It's Alive! Spontaneous Motion of Shear Thickening Fluids Floating on the Air-Water Interface

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In this fluid dynamics video, we show the spontaneous random motion of thin filaments of a shear-thickening colloidal dispersions floating on the surface of water. The fluid is a dispersion of fumed silica nanoparticles in a low molecular weight polypropylene glycol (PPG) solvent. No external field or force is applied. The observed motion is driven by strong surface tension gradients as the polypropylene glycol slowly diffuses from from the filaments into water, resulting in the observed Marangoni flow. The motion is exaggerated by the thin filament constructs by the attractive interactions between silica nanoparticles and the PPG.