Two thousand magnets, two boys, tons of imagination.

Ten or fifteen years ago, I fell in love with magnets. Or rather, more in love with magnets. I had always liked them. As a kid I dragged a horseshoe style magnet in a plastic bag down the 'Junky Road' in Wakefield, collecting iron ore sand. Later, I learned how to make a magnet out of a nail using a dry cell battery and wire. I had no idea then that I would rediscover the wonders of magnets in my 'old' age. 

It was when I heard about Buckyballs that I again became aware that some very cool sorts of magnets were available. I started researching and buying them. And having fun. 

There is quite a history behind the Buckyball saga that I think is interesting. In the interest of brevity however, I'll just list some of the important moments...

• Richard Buckminster "Bucky" Fuller was an American architect, author, and futurist who designed geodesic domes.  (Read more about him. What a fascinating person.)
• In 1984, a form of carbon was first generated, (C60) which would be named Buckminsterfullerine, because it's molecular shape was like that of a soccer ball, or a geodesic dome. 
• Maxfield and Oberton Company introduce neodymium magnet spheres that they call Buckyballs. 
• Several babies or children swallow some of the small magnets, which can cause intestinal injury and death. 
• Buckyballs are banned from 2014 to 2016. 
• A whole bunch of imitators now produce similar products. (Zen magnets, Neocubes) They now carry warnings about age restrictions. 

This is a drawing of a nanotube of C60, 50,000 times smaller than a human hair. Compare it with these structures the boys made of magnets 

These are neodymium magnets, the strongest type of magnet currently made. 

It's a rainy day. Just the sort of day to hunker down inside, and play with super magnets.

Amiri is holding up a single strand of them.  They're amazingly strong. 

A close up 

 Amiri is rolling up 1,000 spheres. 

 They're beautiful.

 As you rotate the cylinder, the string of magnets on one end of the cylinder comes loose while the string on the other end is reattached to the body. The size of the cylinder remains the same of course, but it's fun to watch. 

Arram, who wanted to dress up that day, shows how he can roll a ring down a string . 

 This is 'free-form sculpture # 1

 And free-form sculpture # 2

I once made myself a pen/pencil holder that I used on my desk. This is a small vase that Allie made.

Over time, I had purchased all sorts of magnets, in different shapes. My stongest were cylinder magnets, two inches diameter by one inch tall. Pull strength was 220 pounds each. There are much stronger ones available. 

This is the link to one of the sites I bought magnets from. Check it out if you're interested. 

 http://www.magnet4less.com/index.php?cPath=1_11                                -djf