What’s happening here? That putty is eating that poor cube! Aww, poor cube. Kidding aside, that is actually magnetic putty and it’s attracted to the magnet because, well, it’s magnetic putty and that there is a rare-earth neodymium iron boron magnet. Here’s the science behind this video by Scott Lawson:
“[The Magnet is] a very powerful magnet for its size and could erase magnetic stripes found in credit cards and damage electronics!
The putty looks and feels like regular silly putty, but the difference lies in the fact that it has been infused with millions of micron-sized ferrous particles (most often iron oxide powder). The magnetic putty is not actually magnetic by itself, since the infused particles are made of iron powder.”
As for the video, it was shot at 3fps for an hour and a half and played at 24fps. It’s technically called a time lapse video but let’s call it a fast-mo in line with calling a slowed down version of a video slow-mo.
The putty will actually become a magnet itself once it rare-earth magnet gives the putty north and south poles. However, when “thermal agitation shakes the particles” after a few hours, the putty will become its normal magnetic putty self.
