Attracted to UCody ChoiAward: Top 100
School: sleepy hollow high school This is a photograph of my nails being done for my Junior Prom by my nail technician. I chose the "heart-cateye" design and was surprised she used a magnet to create the hearts. Curious, I researched how the polish worked and discovered it involves fluids, magnetism, reflection, and electromagnetic waves. The polish contains iridescent, ferromagnetic iron oxide flakes. In liquid form, these particles flow freely, but once exposed to UV light, intermolecular forces lock them in place. A magnet is held near the wet polish to "activate" it (its magnetic field aligns the domains of the flakes, pulling them toward the magnet). The heart shape is formed by "focusing" the field through a magnetized paper clip, which enables finer control for a defined shape. The magnet must be very close to the nail for the magnetic field to effectively move the flakes. These particles are also highly reflective, so they reflect more light and appear more iridescent than other polish chemicals, making the heart seem to glow from within. My technician, who was also wearing magnetic polish, used a cylindrical magnet for her own unique design. Each nail is magnetized and cured individually to ensure the design remains intact, as the magnetic field used to design the next nail could interfere with the previous one. To prevent this, each nail is cured individually under a UV lamp, whose rays have enough energy to trigger a chemical reaction, thus locking the magnetic design in place and solidifying the polish. 
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