I found this object in a parking lot of a university, I was interested in it so I picked it up and put it in my car. Later to my suprise I found it is magnetic. Here’s the best discription I can give:
Dull silver metalic sphere, apx 1 + 1/8 inch in diameter. Has 12 raised ‘bumps’ , each bump is an additional 1/8 inch above the surface, cone shaped with a blunted top.
These bumps are fairly evenly spaced, I don’t know it’s the ‘best’ way to arange them, but it’s in a pattern that tries to space the bumps out evenly over the surface of the sphere.
The magnetic polls are aligned so N and S each fall between 4 of the bumps.
The only other distinguishing marks seem to be from manufacture. A small circle is indented in the sphere where one of the poles is, the circle is about 3/16 in diameter (think of the Earth’s N pole icecap ringing a circle on the globe). There is an equator circle also, and the other pole has a 3rd circle that is maybe 1/2 and inch in diameter and goes through 4 bumps.
I’d say it’s a magnet. Nothing else special. There are a lot of weird shaped magnets out there so they can do what they have to do, whatever it is that they do.
Perhaps but I don’t see how the toy would use this part.
Kinda sucks when you forget where you parked
That’s what it looks like, for a short time I wondered if it was explosive.
no
But a magnet by all practical definitions is an item that sticks to the refridgiator without sliding and can hold at least one piece of paper between it and the fridge. This object is both too round and heavy to hold on the fridge. It’s strong enough to hold itself on the bottom of a horizontal pipe though.
I’m in the “new agey thing” camp. There were a lot of MLM sales of magnetic doodahs. There were magnetic lumpy rollers that you’d massage someone with. Probably this one fell out of its casing. Have you tried rubbing it to see if a genie appears?