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What is buckminsterfullerene?

Buckminsterfullerene is a recently discovered carbon chemical comprised of large molecules shaped like soccer balls, each containing 60 carbon atoms. Also called "buckyballs," the molecules of buckminsterfullerine are hollow, spherical objects with 32 faces—12 of them pentagons (having 5 sides) and the rest hexagons (having 6 sides). This shape is technically called a "truncated icosahedron." This substance was named buckminsterfullerene because of its molecules' structural resemblance to the geodesic domes designed by American architect R. Buckminster Fuller (1895-1983). (Geodesic domes are lightweight domes that incorporate the geometric properties of the tetrahedron and the sphere.)

Before chemist (a scientist specializing in the composition, structure, properties, and reactions of matter) Richard Smalley identified buckminsterfullerene in 1985, it was believed that the only...

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