What is a buckyball?
A buckyball is a spherical or ellipsoidal cage made up of covalently bonded carbon atoms. It is a fullerene, another allotrope (arrangement) of carbon, alongside graphite and diamond. C60 is the first fullerene discovered, and is known as buckminsterfullerene, after architect Buckminster Fuller’s geodesic domes, which the molecule resembles. Fullerenes, including the buckyball, are extremely strong but relatively expensive to produce and purify. Another variety of fullerenes are nanotubes, which are similar to buckyballs but cylindrical rather than spherical. Fullerenes were first discovered in 1985 by Harold Kroto, James Heath, Sean O’Brien, Robert Curl and Richard Smalley in molecular beam experiments. Later, they were observed in common places where carbon is found, such as candle soot. Kroto, Curl, and Smalley were ultimately awarded the 1996 Nobel Prize in Chemistry for their work with fullerenes. Buckyballs come in all sizes. The smallest buckyball consists of 20 carbon atoms, an
Objective: Students will be able to visually identify buckyballs Key Question: What is a buckyball? The Hook: A soccer ball will easily demonstrate the shape of a buckyball– the idea is to communicate the scale to the students. The Action: Have students speculate as to the size of buckyballs, and what this means that they can do. Some buckyballs have been impregnated, or ‘doped’, with an atom at the center of the cage. Other buckyballs have been unzipped, and, like a chain-link fence, rolled into a tube. Have students try to reproduce the shape with paper, toothpicks, etc. and if there is time, do a brief PowerPoint presentation or computer projector demonstration of buckyballs from the web. Closure: Ask students to answer the question “what is a buckyball” in writing. Give them an objective answer. Return to top Lesson 2: Where can you find out about them? Objective: Students will search for buckyball information on the web. Key Question: What does the web hold? Suggested Materials:
