A third form of carbon was discovered in 1985. It was called buckminsterfullerene because its structure resembled the geodesic domes designed by the famous architect-engineer R. Buckminster Fuller. This form of carbon is also called C60 or buckyball. In a buckyball, the carbon atoms are arranged in small, hollow, cage-like clusters. They have a structure of interlocking hexagons and pentagons. The most common form, C60 has 60 carbon atoms arranged in the vertices of a "truncated icosahedron." Another way to describe this is that the carbon atoms in a buckyball form five- and six-sided rings. These rings are joined together to form a shape commonly encountered as a soccer ball.
Buckyballs were discovered by accident, in 1985, by scientists who were trying to study and simulate conditions in the atmosphere of cool carbon-rich giant red stars. The investigators noticed that a large number of the soot-like particles they created contained 60 carbon atoms. For their discovery, Richard Smalley, Robert Curl, and Harry Kroto received the 1996 Nobel Prize in Chemistry. Today, many researchers are studying the properties and possible applications of fullerenes. In addition to the ball-shaped buckyballs, related structures called nanotubes and nanowires are also being investigated.
Many possible applications have been suggested for these new materials, including use in rocket fuels and polymers, the development of new semiconductors as well as new superconducting materials, replacement of silicon chips in computers with buckyball or nanotube wires and transistors, new treatments for cancer and AIDS, improved insulators, batteries, and fuel cell electrodes, catalysts, and many other uses.
Despite the initial excitement, few practical applications have been developed yet. One of the main reasons is the difficulty in producing large amounts of high-quality buckyballs or nanotubes at reasonable prices. The price for an ounce of buckyballs was $35,000 in 1990. By late 2000, the price had fallen to $225 per ounce. Some experts predict that the price will be $3 per ounce within a decade. When fullerenes become more affordable, a whole new field of organic chemistry may be devoted to their production and use. Nanotubes, especially, promise to revolutionize technology in the near future.
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