Cubism

“Buckycubes”, actually! (See the “B³”?) Not a puzzle, really, but perhaps a modern version of worry beads? I think Clare got them for me. One web site calls them addictive and they are! A student who comes to office hours with some regularity used to play with these all the time.

What’s the deal? They’re super-strong little magnets. Quick: five on an edge; how many are there in total? They’re officially called “rare earth” magnets. They do have a very practical application and I used this recently: these little guys will find the nail heads where your dry wall has been attached to underlying studs! Never mind those fancy stud-finders! I could never get them to work reliably anyway. But these little guys get the job done!

Beware, however! There have been people who have swallow one or — what’s far worse — more-than-one Buckycube or more-than-one of Buckycubes’ cousins, Buckyballs. If ingested, they can cause serious injury. Indeed, the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission got involved about a year and a half ago. From CBS News http://www.cbsnews.com/news/buckyballs-ceo-on-cpsc-complaint-how-can-this-happen-in-america/ »» “The CPSC, a federal agency, filed a complaint yesterday against the magnetic adult desk products because of their potential health hazards for children. The consumer watchdog group asked for retailers to stop selling the high-powered rare earth magnets because of the risks posed to individuals that swallow the balls. Already, Amazon, Brookstone and Urban Outfitters have complied.” I guess we need protection from ourselves?

1 year ago (“Tall oaks from little acorns grow”): http://365project.org/rhoing/365/2013-01-21
2 years ago (“Maple “chest-on-chest”, 1952”): http://365project.org/rhoing/365/2012-01-21
3 years ago (“Easiest photo ever!”): http://365project.org/rhoing/365/2011-01-21

Want more?
“A neodymium magnet (also known as NdFeB, NIB or Neo magnet), the most widely used type of rare-earth magnet, is a permanent magnet made from an alloy of neodymium, iron and boron to form the Nd2Fe14B tetragonal crystalline structure. Developed in 1982 by General Motors and Sumitomo Special Metals, neodymium magnets are the strongest type of permanent magnet commercially available. They have replaced other types of magnet in the many applications in modern products that require strong permanent magnets, such as motors in cordless tools, hard disk drives and magnetic fasteners” http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neodymium_magnet .

21st January 2014 21st Jan 14