What Is Ferrofluid and How Does It Create Unique Optical Effects?

[Mk]

This is describing a photograph I took, and I am not sure of the proper grammar to use at times. Should I put commas in the first sentence? Butcher it; why don'tcha? I want to make it best possible.

Ferrofluid is a superparamagnetic liquid composed of surfactant-encapsulated
nanoscale sub-domain magnetic particles suspended in a carrier fluid with a high
magnetic permeability and very low magnetic hysteresis. In this photograph,
approximately five milliliters of ferrofluid was poured into a petri dish, and two N42
grade neodymium iron boron (Nd₂Fe₁₄B) rare-earth magnets were strategically
placed under a commercially printed watercolor painting of breaking waves. The
interaction of the magnets' fields, the surface tension of the ferrofluid, and the
Earth's gravitational field result in stable three-dimensional liquid spikes. Interesting optical effects are exhibited from the transparency, color (both as a function of depth), and curvatures of the ferrofluid, as well as the several different wavelengths of light projected onto specific regions of the photograph.

 

[Cyrus]

Ferrofluids are superparamagnetic liquids composed of magnetic particles suspended in a carrier fluid; therefore, ferrofluids have a high magnetic permeability and very low magnetic hysteresis.

Why are you being so damn verbose?

 

[big man]

Not that it's a rule that many pay attention to anymore, or that anyone would notice, but the whole comprises the parts and the parts compose the whole.

"Ferrofluid is a superparamagnetic liquid that comprises surfactant-encapsulated..."

 

[honestrosewater]

What Mk has seems to agree with that. 'X composes Y' iff 'Y is composed of X'. The former is in the so-called active voice; the latter is in the passive voice.

 

[Mk]

When should I prefer to use the active/passive voice?

 

[Rach3]

Here the use of passive voice is preferred.

:tongue2:

 

[honestrosewater]

When should I prefer to use the active/passive voice?

I'm not really familair with the concepts people have introduced about this. But take a look at what placing an expression at the beginning of a sentence does.

(1) Rachel ate asparagus for an experiment.
(2) a. Asparagus, Rachel ate for an experiment.
(2) b. Asparagus was eaten by Rachel for an experiment.
(3) For an experiment, Rachel ate asparagus.

If it seems like (1) is about Rachel, (2a-b) are about asparagus, and (3) is about an experiment, great, that's what I was aiming for. As a rule of thumb, in English, to make a sentence S be about X, put X at the beginning of S, and to make S not be about X, don't put X at the beginning of S. I can't really say more. If you are dying for more, maybe this will help, or you can google 'topic' or 'topicalization'.

 

[J77]

Ferrofluid is a superparamagnetic liquid. It is composed of surfactant-encapsulated, nanoscale, sub-domain magnetic particles. These are suspended in a carrier fluid with a high magnetic permeability and a very low magnetic hysteresis. In the experimental results shown in Fig.?,
approximately five millilitres of ferrofluid were poured into a petri dish. Next, two N42 grade neodymium iron boron (Nd2Fe14B) rare-earth magnets were placed under a print showing breaking waves. <Need to say why this print is used>The
interaction of the magnetic fields, together with the surface tension of the ferrofluid and the Earth's gravitational field are shown to result in stable three-dimensional liquid spikes. Moreover, interesting optical effects are observed. Namely, color, as a function of depth, and curvatures of the ferrofluid. Note that, the several different wavelengths of light projected onto specific regions of the photograph are also shown.

edit: btw, it's grammar!