(Why aren't there any) Magnetic Liquids?

Event details

York Society of Engineers Open Lecture

Everybody knows that there are no magnetic liquids.  Liquid mercury is a metal but it is not magnetic.  This lecture seeks to explain why this is the case and to show how liquids can be made magnetic and what happens to them when they are.  This leads to some very strange effects due to the fact that a normal liquid is only subject to the force of gravity and therefore has a flat surface.  When a magnetic liquid is exposed to a magnetic field the surface no longer stays flat.  Even stranger effects are observed when a magnetic liquid is in contact with another liquid and a magnetic field is applied.

The lecture is hands-on and many experiments are passed around the audience and at the conclusion you are invited to come and play with my magnetic liquid toys.