We looked at ball bearings the other day. Well these little metal spheres can become even more fun when made of neodymium – a magnetic rare earth metal. These are sold as toys under various names: CyberCube (for the cube form that they are often sold in), NeoCube, NanoDots, and BuckyBalls (named for the fullerene spherical carbon molecule). I had the chance to play with a set of these a short while ago, and they are WAY more addictive than one would suspect. Plenty of places to buy them online. For ideas, check out the video.
i see these come up for sale (at quite reasonable prices) on woot.com or sellout.woot.com frequently… and i really want to purchase some.. i haven't been able to make myself do it… they look like so much fun/really cool…..
They are worth every penny. I got mine at Woot and have bought several sets now for family and friends… Simply awesome.
We got some different. magnet toys. The balls are not magnetic, instead the sticks are, and not very. It turns out the strong magnet balls toys are pretty dangerous. If a kid or a pet eats more than one, they can attract in an intestine and pinch a wall between. One of our kids once passed a marble and another a ball bearing. We only found out since we heard them.
I have a magnet on my desk with nuts on it. I play with my nuts quite frequently. Sometimes my nuts get lost under my desk and I have to crawl around to find them.
<img src="http://www.officeplayground.com/Assets/ProductImages/pi1500-1699/1578_MagneticArtNuts_1B.jpg">
What did you think I was talking about?
IMG from officeplayground.com
The real question is: How do they work?
<img src="http://images1.wikia.nocookie.net/__cb20110206215233/bakugan/images/f/f3/Troll.png"width=200>
Sorry, couldn't resist.
I just mentioned these in the childish post above without knowing they were just posted (duh!) I give them a sterling recommendation.
Seriously. I work on computers, and when reading documents, watching training videos, waiting on the processes or any of the million times I am bored with free hands they keep me sane. You can create some seriously cool things with them.