Buckyballs: Carbon Goes 3-D
Overview
In 1985 Harold Kroto (1939- ), Robert Curl (1933- ), and Richard Smalley (1943- ) discovered a novel form of pure carbon, called fullerenes, and opened up a new field of chemistry and materials science. Buckminsterfullerene, named after American engineer Richard Buckminster Fuller (1895-1983), consists of 60 carbon atoms joined together into the shape of a soccer ball. It and related fullerenes are hollow, highly stable, and have unusual physical and chemical properties, including optical activity and superconductivity. Nanotubes, which are "buckyballs" rolled into cylindrical forms, are being tested for a variety of applications and are considered to be the most promising material for nanotechnology, the building of new materials at the molecular scale.
Background
Fullerenes represent a new form of the element carbon in which the atoms are arranged to create closed shells. Much of the potential of these new compounds is rooted in the vast experience scientists and engineers have in carbon chemistry, but the first fullerenes, clusters of 60 carbon atoms (C60) and 70 carbon atoms (C70), have their origins in radioastronomy and cluster chemistry.
In 1985 Kroto, Curl, and Smalley came together at Rice University to perform an experiment.
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