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An introduction to Buckminsterfullerenes: Their history and discovery, their unique chemical and physical properties, methods in fullerene production, and the many possible uses of "buckyballs" that may be seen in the near future.
This module was developed as part of a Rice University Class called " Nanotechnology: Content and Context " initially funded by the National Science Foundation under Grant No. EEC-0407237. It was conceived, researched, written and edited by students in the Fall 2005 version of the class, and reviewed by participating professors.

“This year's Nobel Prize in Chemistry has implications for all the natural sciences. The seeds of thediscovery were sowed by a desire to understand the behavior of carbon in red giant stars and interstellar gas clouds. Thediscovery of fullerenes has expanded our knowledge and changed our thinking in chemistry and physics. It has given us new hypotheseson the occurrence of carbon in the universe. It has also led us to discover small quantities of fullerenes in geological formations.Fullerenes are probably present in much larger amounts on earth than previously believed. It has been shown that most sooty flamescontain small quantities of fullerenes. Think of this the next time you light a candle!”

-From the presentation speech for the Nobel Prize in Chemistry, 1996

Introduction

In 1996, the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences awarded the Nobel Prize in Chemistry, the most prestigiousaward in the world for chemists, to Richard Smalley, Robert Curl, and Harold Kroto for their discovery of fullerenes. They discoveredfullerenes (also called buckyballs) in 1985, but the special properties of the buckyballs took a few years to prove andcategorize. Although by 1996 no practical applications of buckyballs had been produced, scientists appreciated the directionthis discovery based in organic chemistry had led scientific research, as well as its specific contributions to various otherfields. The accidental discovery of fullerenes also emphasizes the benefits and unexpected results which can arise when scientistswith different backgrounds and research aims collaborate in the laboratory.

What are buckyballs?

Before going into detail about the actual buckyball, we should discuss the element that makes its structurepossible, carbon. Carbon is the sixth element on the periodic table, and has been found to be at least a partial constituent inover 90 per cent of all chemicals known to man. Indeed, its electron-bonding properties grant it a versatility specific tocarbon, allowing it to be so widely functionalized, and more importantly, the reason for life on Earth. Anything that is livingis necessarily chemically based on Carbon atoms, and for this reason, substances containing carbon are called organic compounds,and the study of them is called organic chemistry.

Though carbon is involved in chemistry with all sorts of other elements and compounds, it can also exist inpure carbon states such as graphite and diamond. Graphite and diamond are two different allotropes of carbon. An allotrope is aspecific physical arrangement of atoms of an element. So although diamond and graphite are both pure carbon, because the crystallinestructure of each is significantly different, their chemical and physical properties (as well as value) are very different.

Questions & Answers

A golfer on a fairway is 70 m away from the green, which sits below the level of the fairway by 20 m. If the golfer hits the ball at an angle of 40° with an initial speed of 20 m/s, how close to the green does she come?
Aislinn Reply
cm
tijani
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John Reply
what is physics
Siyaka Reply
A mouse of mass 200 g falls 100 m down a vertical mine shaft and lands at the bottom with a speed of 8.0 m/s. During its fall, how much work is done on the mouse by air resistance
Jude Reply
Can you compute that for me. Ty
Jude
what is the dimension formula of energy?
David Reply
what is viscosity?
David
what is inorganic
emma Reply
what is chemistry
Youesf Reply
what is inorganic
emma
Chemistry is a branch of science that deals with the study of matter,it composition,it structure and the changes it undergoes
Adjei
please, I'm a physics student and I need help in physics
Adjanou
chemistry could also be understood like the sexual attraction/repulsion of the male and female elements. the reaction varies depending on the energy differences of each given gender. + masculine -female.
Pedro
A ball is thrown straight up.it passes a 2.0m high window 7.50 m off the ground on it path up and takes 1.30 s to go past the window.what was the ball initial velocity
Krampah Reply
2. A sled plus passenger with total mass 50 kg is pulled 20 m across the snow (0.20) at constant velocity by a force directed 25° above the horizontal. Calculate (a) the work of the applied force, (b) the work of friction, and (c) the total work.
Sahid Reply
you have been hired as an espert witness in a court case involving an automobile accident. the accident involved car A of mass 1500kg which crashed into stationary car B of mass 1100kg. the driver of car A applied his brakes 15 m before he skidded and crashed into car B. after the collision, car A s
Samuel Reply
can someone explain to me, an ignorant high school student, why the trend of the graph doesn't follow the fact that the higher frequency a sound wave is, the more power it is, hence, making me think the phons output would follow this general trend?
Joseph Reply
Nevermind i just realied that the graph is the phons output for a person with normal hearing and not just the phons output of the sound waves power, I should read the entire thing next time
Joseph
Follow up question, does anyone know where I can find a graph that accuretly depicts the actual relative "power" output of sound over its frequency instead of just humans hearing
Joseph
"Generation of electrical energy from sound energy | IEEE Conference Publication | IEEE Xplore" ***ieeexplore.ieee.org/document/7150687?reload=true
Ryan
what's motion
Maurice Reply
what are the types of wave
Maurice
answer
Magreth
progressive wave
Magreth
hello friend how are you
Muhammad Reply
fine, how about you?
Mohammed
hi
Mujahid
A string is 3.00 m long with a mass of 5.00 g. The string is held taut with a tension of 500.00 N applied to the string. A pulse is sent down the string. How long does it take the pulse to travel the 3.00 m of the string?
yasuo Reply
Who can show me the full solution in this problem?
Reofrir Reply
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Source:  OpenStax, Nanotechnology: content and context. OpenStax CNX. May 09, 2007 Download for free at http://cnx.org/content/col10418/1.1
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