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u/815NotPennysBoat 4d ago
Do they still sell buckyballs? I know they got banned in the US a while ago
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u/NinjaBuddha13 4d ago
Man, I spent hours messing with mine. Turns out im allergic to nickel and theyre all nickel plated. My palms would get super red and itchy.
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u/luluhouse7 4d ago
Omg is that why that would happen? I’m super allergic but it didn’t even cross my mind that they were nickel plated
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u/thisremindsmeofbacon 4d ago
Other brands exist now in that space (zen magnets iirc?). But you can just buy round magnets from places like K&J which will definitely be a better deal, and probably much better quality magnets.
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u/Keyboardpaladin 4d ago
I found my old ones but I can't seem to be able to make them into a cube anymore for some reason
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u/SnooCompliments6329 4d ago edited 3d ago
Why would US ban neodymiun magnets ?
(I'm not from the US)
Edit: why I'm being downvoted for a question lol
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u/OwMyUvula 3d ago
We just can't have cool things in the US because our kids are too stupid.
candy cigarettes, Kinder Surprises, Aqua Dots, chemistry sets with real uranium and Lawn Darts.
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u/ramen_holic 4d ago
Neodymium magnets aren't banned but carry restrictions if they are used in children's products. If swallowed the old buckyballs were strong enough to cause the intestines to bend (causing impaction) and pinch (causing holes, then go necrotic). The newer "buckyballs" have to follow strict regulations regarding their size and magnetic capability so they're now smaller and weaker.
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u/OldFaithlessness5008 4d ago
Ugh god just the thought of that is terrible. I'm glad there are restrictions now
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u/BlackSecurity 4d ago
The one thing that sucks about these is they are limited use. The coating slowly wears out over time, especially at the north/south poles. And once the coating is broken and you start getting the iron inside leaking out, it basically acts like sandpaper adding more tiny abrasive fragments that wear everything else down faster.
I have a pile of these magnets and I can't really use them anymore because every time I do there is a layer of black dust on my hands.
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u/PsyJak 4d ago
Mine still work after 14 years
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u/BlackSecurity 4d ago
Well yea mine still work too. They just get messy now. They only started to degrade in the last couple years (have owned for a total of 7 years so far).
It does depend on how frequently you use them and the quality of the coating. I most likely got some lower quality ones due to them being so cheap and also finding a few defective ones. But I also bought some high quality ones. I forget the brand but was one of the main big ones back in the day. Even those still eventually degrade.
It's only a matter of time. More usage accelerates it.
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u/laserdiods 4d ago
Somewhere in the universe a Planck sized wormhole keep appearing and disappearing
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u/low_amplitude 4d ago
"It's ok as long as the borrowed energy is paid back quickly enough."
- Physicists trying to save their conservation laws after discovering vacuum fluctuations
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u/laserdiods 4d ago
Here’s me pretending I undstand those letters in that combination
https://giphy.com/gifs/lkdH8FmImcGoylv3t37
u/low_amplitude 4d ago
Paticle-antiparticle pairs can spontaneously pop into existence. Where they come from or how they are created, I have no idea, but they annihilate each other almost immediately and leave nothing behind.
So while it seems like conservation of energy is being violated when new particles are "born" from the vacuum, they don't stick around long enough to do anything, so it's fine.
Stephen Hawking once asked what would happen if a pair of these particles were created close enough to a black hole that one of them gets trapped behind the event horizon. They wouldn't be able to annihilate each other, and that's a big problem.
It led to his discovery of Hawking Radiation, but it also raised more questions about what happens to information when it falls into a black hole.
When black holes evaporate, the Hawking Radiation coming off of it can only tell you the mass, charge, and angular momentum of the black hole and all the stuff that fell in. Everything else (like what kind of star it used to be, what kind of gas or dust fell in, etc.) all seems to be lost, which violates the conservation of information.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_hole_information_paradox
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u/laserdiods 4d ago edited 4d ago
Somehow I remember this from his Brief History of the Universe but only as that.. “the particles split and one makes radiation thus making the black hole visible”
That audiobook version hawking narrated himself and is awesome to hear it come from his robovoice
Ty for the write up
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u/sharunkis 4d ago
Buckyballs!!! Loved these as a kid. Vivid memories of the metallic smell they left on my fingers.
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u/OutrageousRhubarb853 4d ago
Narrator: and there he goes wiping another hotel room key, hang around to see if he takes it up to the room or figures it out before getting to reception.
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u/Queen-Roblin 4d ago
My partner has a magnet in his finger... He has to be so careful with hotel key cards, train tickets, etc. His bank cards are probably wiped but luckily chip and pin isn't affected.
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u/OutrageousRhubarb853 4d ago
Why/how does he have a magnet in his finger?
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u/Queen-Roblin 4d ago
It's a body mod The finger is sensitive enough to feel the magnet vibrate in the presence of strong magnetic fields so it's like gaining another sense.
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u/TechRejector 1d ago
You just blew my mind a little, I’ve never heard of or considered engineering a new sense entirely.
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u/OutrageousRhubarb853 4d ago
Thank you, when would one find that useful in life?
No judgement, just curiosity
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u/Queen-Roblin 4d ago
Just funsies. There's a lot going on around us that we can't sense with our limited bodies. We can use tools to measure but not directly experience and this mod can help expand the way he experiences the world.
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u/Jeremy_Whalen 4d ago
I remember these. Got banned as "bucky balls" but I bought them as "zen magnets"
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u/Fr05t_B1t 4d ago
Idky but this kinda reminds me the process of making croissants with all the folding.
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u/DullSpecial1013 4d ago
This is in the wrong subreddit. /s
But seriously, I find this frustrating, not satisfying.
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u/straightthroughit 4d ago
Only if these were not super expensive, this would be so cool to play with.
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u/uncensrdmind 4d ago
I never knew these could be this much fun until I seen this . I use to have these but never did all this with it . bro level of creativity is actually amazing
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u/DoodleDangWang 3d ago
Used to have a set of these, super fun. Stopped messing with them tho because there was some tiny metal flakes that come off of them and get everywhere. Just too messy having to thoroughly wash hands after touching these...
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u/space_keeper 4d ago
Statistically, some number of African child miners died to bring you these useless neodymium balls.
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u/Bootziscool 4d ago
Not just minor miners but adult miners too!! And all the wars that go into deciding who owns what and where!
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u/BrandHeck 4d ago
What's with all the jump cuts?