the power of goo

Carbon Nanotubes, as cool and hype as its name suggests, are rather old and part of human technology (And we thought Carbon Nano Tubes were new….) — and definitely in the universe per se. Nevertheless the original discovery of non-planar graphite-derived 3D-shaped molecules was a major breakthrough and lead to a nobel prize in chemistry for the discovery of Buckminsterfullerene (also known as C60 or bucky ball),

awarded to Sir Harold Kroto (UK), Richard E. Smalley (US) and Robert F. Curl, Jr (US).

A very entertaining and complete coverage of the discovery of C60 and siblings is given in this presentation (Real Player needed!) by Sir Kroto. Watch out for the famous mass spectrum at around 12 minutes into the lecture… but don’t stop there ;).

Buckminsterfullerene, the trivial name for the soccer ball C60, was also the Molecule of the Month in 1996. It is named after the architect, futurist and visionary Richard Buckminster Fuller (see also Wikipedia), famous not only for his geodesic domes (after which the molecule C60 was named), but also author of many books and wearer of three watches.

And now?

Carbon nanotubes as well as nano-molecules like Fullerenes are hoped to be very useful in designing materials with new properties… further details may be found in the database at Nanowerk.

Additional Links:

• Image above: from the Royal Society of Chemistry
• Nobel Prize: for Chemistry 1996
• Google Scholar: buckminsterfullerene carbon nanotubes