Plasma Ball

My four-year-old grandson saw this type of product at a science museum, and he was telling me about it. I found this on Amazon, and surprised him with it. He was thrilled! His six and eight year-old brother and sister also love it, and it provides hours of entertainment for the whole family!

Sound control a bonus!

It's your basic plasma ball. It's good for our 7 year olds 1st and for the price

Curiosity

I've always loved plasma balls and was excited to try this out. Visual sensory stims have been really helpful for calming my ever thinking noggin, and this is a great addition to my space!The device is really light and fairly small. The base is plasticky, and the overall feel had me concerned about quality at first. This little guy works great, however!I like the pamphlet that includes info on how the plasma ball works. The info is concise and easy to read. Hooray for learning!I haven't had much luck with the sound activated mode, but I also haven't blared music or had this near more than a tv. Tapping the table the ball is on does cause enough sound to trigger flickers.Touch mode is definitely where this shines. It doesn't take a lot of pressure and multiple points produce the mesmerizing effect when touched. Very satisfying and calming. One of our cats loves staring at it.The only issue I've encountered so far is the switch not always activing the device right away, especially if I forget to unplug it from an outlet overnight.Overall, this is a nighty little plasma ball! Great for sensory soothing, a bit of scientific fun, or decor.

Okay, This plasma Ball by Popular Science.I had one years ago and loved it! This is fun for everyone! So yeah, I was looking forward to this!I got it plugged in and 'warming/charging' up. I had been watching the weather and even wondered if it would arrive before the storms. And it did!So it was plugged in and the power got knocked out. Such is life in the mid-west! Anyway this will be a short review as the Plasma Ball had a short life.They are easily damaged so you should take care with having it plugged into a surge protector.The Plasma Ball by Popular Science - yeah I was a Popular Science fangirl and my dad would let me read the magazine when it came in.I had a lot of fun with my plasma ball when I had one, and before I caused the death of this one it was a lot of fun watching the way the currents moved around!I didn't think beyond my excitement when this came in so I didn't use standard precautions to help ensure the life of this neat light!I would recommend this for anyone interested in the science-learning fun items!And for SURE science teachers!Please don't do what I did, and make sure you plug it into a surge protector. Use only the power source it comes with as any damage to the inner field that houses the currents will also damage your Plasma Ball!These are a lot of fun and make a great science class visual!

The popular science plasma ball is one of those type of cool toys I grew up with in the 80-90s but at a much smaller size. The plasma ball I got is only the size of a small orange and not like the big bowling ball sized ones I was used to when growing up. I mean, the thing is still cool though with the purple plasma threads looking like a miniature lightning field inside a globe. I wish there was a different choice of colors instead of just purple plasma. The plasma ball requires the use of a USB connector to either a battery powerbank or a USB wall adapter. The plasma ball also has two settings ON and sound/vibration activated. In the On mode, the plasma threads are on all the time, while the sound/vibration mode activates the plasma upon detecting sound or a vibration. The Popular Science plasma ball box calls this the "Plasma Ball 2.0" which I doesn't explain what the 2.0 signifies. Is the 2.0 version better, has more features, etc??? I don't know.. I'm still guessing. Anyways, cool little science toy for the kids to get their curiosity going and the great thing is that the manual has an explanation on how the little thing works which you can read and then explain to your kids so that they can see how smart you are.

Received as a novelty item for my two pre-K sons. They certainly enjoy the plasma ball, but I will say a couple things. The device is made very cheaply. Every component feels cheap. Size is quite small. The globe is smaller than a baseball. That being said, the price is very very reasonable for a product like this at under $13.I would recommend this product, but temper expectations as this is more of a novelty.