Interesting, yeah there’s a few things that would be interesting to try I just need to think about what to make with it.

@@Curiosity_lab It's copper chloride, not copper sulfate though.

Thanks, Yeah I’ve got loads of videos planned but I don’t expect this gel to be much use beyond some interesting cosplay props. It might inspire some more useful ideas though.

@@Curiosity_lab you should look into what could make the liquid more conductive, even replacing the water with something else. could you grind copper into tiny shavings and that still be usable in water and also increase conductivity?

Interesting idea, less dense than water and immiscible, maybe some organic solvents.

Wow that’s crazy, glad the videos of use to you.

Very interesting ideas, I think we are on the same wavelength with this project; 1. a closed loop would have been ideal for the Nixie tube setup, didn’t occur to me, would just need to fit some kind of one way valve. 2. I did consider something similar to the T connector setup but decided to keep the tube as linear and uniform as possible, as the gel had a tendency to split into smaller blobs when it hit any obstruction. 3. I looked into ionic liquids but apart from being hard to buy their conductivity is less than 10% of saturated brine, and salt being so ubiquitous I figured I’d just use that. 4. When I had the idea and checked that no one else was doing it I knew it meant people have had the idea and decided it has no useful application XD I’ll just have to create my own applications.

@@Curiosity_lab That's the way it goes when you're in invention mode. Re T forms. The issue of breakup is due to the step interface between the tube and the barb. I had a similar issue with a completely different kind of system some years ago. The secret sauce is to make sure that any transition from tube to T has little or no flow disruption. Wit the T barbs I found if I simply used a tapered reamer to taper the entrance to the barb probe which did reduce the problem considerably. I used a clear polycarb T and polished the inside after using the tapered reamer. Curios I then Inserted tubing into a push in locking fitting you see on some 3d printers and lots of lab equipment. I then encased the fitting inside and out in clear epoxy using a simple coffer dam mold. A machinist friend of mind mounted it in his mill and cut away half so I could see how the tubes mated with the T body. It was even better than the T barb, almost laminar flow. The sensor I was using fit into the stem of the T so my machinist friend turned me an adapter that would fit into the T just like a tube would and essentially made the whole thing look like a straight tube coupler. Worked like a charm and, while a bit more complex and fiddly to build, worked perfectly in my application.

Tapering the T junctions makes sense, encasing in clear epoxy would have served me better than the putty I used which did leak some air into the system, but at the time I didn’t want any thing too permanent in case I had to disassemble it. I do want to revisit this project at some point, probably try to apply it to some soft robotics application like a rudimentary grip pressure sensor on an exo arm.

Haha thanks, not that I’m aware of.

Thanks!

Yeah at this point it’s just an engineering challenge depending on what you want to use it for. Once I come up with a decent use for the gel I can look into the best system for moving it round.

Thanks for the thoughts. You can use it as a resistor but the resistance is so high it might not be much use for anything. I imagine if you ran significant currents through it it would get hot. Freezing is an interesting idea, I haven’t tried It but the salt would depress the freezing point to -21C and I have a feeling the xanthan gum would also disrupt ice formation somewhat. Most of the failures I dealt with where due to the gel not wanting to stay confined in the tube, an area where electricity has a distinct advantage over liquids XD. Sodium carbonate could be better than NaCl. Im also thinking CaCl2 would be interesting, better conductivity and depress the freezing point to -50C. Distilled water would be non conductive but in this system it would probably mix with the gel solution.

Are you familiar with slime? Don't know how much water is actually used. Back in 1968, Wham-O made this stuff called "Super Stuff". I bet it was the predecessor before Slime. It came in a bowl, with a lid, and was a pink powder. Just added water, mixed and you got this...super stuff. Add too much water and it was a slimy gel. I can't believe that I begged my grandma to get it when ever I was visiting. ...and those Water Weenies...lots of fun then. The best were Yard Darts...! www.google.com/search?q=wham-o+slime&client=firefox-b-1-d&sxsrf=AB5stBgSu_QjtzKn3Xxdu4UQkVaozCVxIw%3A1690379575678&ei=NyXBZKzwJ86nqtsP94exgA0&ved=0ahUKEwjs55HRwqyAAxXOk2oFHfdDDNAQ4dUDCA8&uact=5&oq=wham-o+slime&gs_lp=Egxnd3Mtd2l6LXNlcnAiDHdoYW0tbyBzbGltZTIFECEYoAEyBRAhGKABSMpeUIoLWPFLcAF4AZABAJgBlwGgAZkMqgEEMC4xMrgBA8gBAPgBAcICChAAGEcY1gQYsAPCAgoQABiKBRiwAxhDwgIOEAAY5AIY1gQYsAPYAQHCAhAQLhiKBRjIAxiwAxhD2AECwgIHECMYigUYJ8ICBBAjGCfCAgcQABiKBRhDwgINEC4YigUYxwEY0QMYQ8ICCxAuGIMBGLEDGIoFwgILEAAYgAQYsQMYgwHCAgsQLhiKBRixAxiDAcICCxAAGIoFGLEDGIMBwgIIEAAYigUYkQLCAggQLhixAxiABMICExAuGIoFGLEDGIMBGMcBGNEDGEPCAggQABiABBixA8ICCxAuGIAEGMcBGNEDwgIFEAAYgATiAwQYACBBiAYBkAYRugYGCAEQARgJugYGCAIQARgI&sclient=gws-wiz-serp#fpstate=ive&vld=cid:0c75119f,vid:qSLpsp0WilY @@Curiosity_lab Addendum: william harris - January 01, 2020 I researched Super Stuff and found that it was an oil drilling lubricant made of guar gum and borate ions,probably boric acid,according to the MSDS sheets sent with a batch I ordered from an oil drilling supply co out of Louisiana, Balmar LLC product named TX 151 it even came in the color pink!! I just remembered something. You are familiar with the valence thing which enables electron flow? Maybe adding the right molecule/element/stuff which shares that outer shell electron. Kind of doping the water. That is what the salt is doing.

Yeah I’ve seen that slime in a jar stuff, I’ve even some slime/putty that are attracted to magnets or are conductive. In fact that reminds me of a video I saw where people use regular play- doh in circuits because it contains salt do it’d conducive. They used it as variable resistors that change the frequency of a buzzer and they stretched the dough, increasing the resistance.

Interesting, I don’t have much experience with transistors. I think a steampunk display would be really look. Something like injecting green liquid into “veins” of a robotic arm and seeing it light up would be really cool, and look close to magic if the electronics where well hidden.

@@Curiosity_lab OH YES! The electronics are quite simple (for me anyway) but you only need a simple transistor circuit (low voltage). All you need is one of those practise examples we use to teach kids how magic electronics is. You see them for "light" operated switches and even water level detectors. Transistors are so sensitive, just plain old water conducts sufficiently. The salt you dissolved in the water increases the number of free ions - pure water is actually an insulator but water out of the tap as a taste because of the impurities in it. The basic idea is you collect an LED from +ve to the collector (NPN) and the emitted to ground. The run the base via the material and that will induce a tiny current in the base. That is amplified by the transistor by the hFE (typically about 100) times. You can't guarantee hFE but with most small signal transistors like the 2N2222 it's a least 100.

Yeah simple enough, much more compact than relays, would be great for steampunk props/wearables

​@@Curiosity_lab Absolutely. I have a project her based on my old Fear Babe avatar (it's a brain in a jar of green goo) that would look amazing if it had lights triggered by the flow of ... well, goo... :) You can always make SP relays or whatever on the 3D printer to your own specification. If you wanted to be really "flashy" you could rig it to an LM3914/5/6 or an Arduino like the Xiao and use the ADC to detect how much coverage you have an respond accordingly.

True, but it’s so dense it might be hard to pump, and I don’t want to accidentally spill some XD

That's what I thought; it's a safer "mercury switch".