Penn State University - 2018-04-06
The researchers placed a droplet containing mixtures of a viscous fluid and bacteria on a slide and dropped a tiny particle of nickel onto the droplet. Then the slide was turned over and the particle settled to the bottom of the drop. A spinning magnetic field created by four coils spins the particle. The spinning caused the bacteria to clump together around and under the spinning nickel particle. It also created a depletion ring around the bacteria where few if any bacteria were found. The spinning bacterial cluster and the depletion ring were visible.