Blending Buckyballs Make For A Nice But Dangerous Light Show
Small, spherical Neodynium magnets, more popular by their commercial name "Buckyballs", have been declared illegal last year by the Consumer Product Safety Commission because of the danger they pose to children. To commemorate the commercial death, at least officially, of the hot geek product, as well as to dispose of it, Blendtec saw it fit to make the balls rest in pieces by putting it inside one of their blenders. Will it blend? Yes it does, somewhat. But it produces more than rubbish too.
To those not familiar with the popular and sometimes ridiculous YouTube series, Will It Blend showcases the power of Blendtec's blenders, in particular, the Total Blender line. It does so by blending anything and everything that can fit inside the jar, and sometimes even those that can't. The usual sacrifices are smartphones and tablets, even the most expensive ones, but Blendtec doesn't stop there, of course.
Despite the popularity of Buckyballs as kids' toys, they posed a grave threat to the very children the initially aimed to cater to. The problem is two-fold. The first is one that is shared by many toys, no matter how many warning labels you put on them. Kids inevitably mistake them for something ingestible. The second problem starts when they do get swallowed. The magnetic force between two balls is said to be so strong that, if ingested separately, two balls will inevitably find each other, potentially tearing through organs. After much legal drama between the CPSC and the Buckyball creators, the toys have been banned in the market and have been recalled. At least the original ones.
Now, Blendtec founder Tom Dickson is giving the dangerous balls a fitting farewell. As you would expect, the metal on metal action inside the jar produces sparks that fly all over the place, producing a light show that would be the Buckyballs' last hurrah. You'd almost expect them to explode at one point or another, so it is a testament to the blender's durability that it doesn't. Of course, the end product isn't something you'd want to eat. Or even inhale for that matter.