Buckyball

[tdth]

Hi everyone, I would like to know about Buckyball, can anyone tell me?

I've searched on Internet, but cannot get what I really want.

I need to know more about the physical structure, how can it be stable?

Thank

[zadojla]

Try googling "buckminsterfullerene", which is the real name. "Buckyball" is just slang. There were very numerous websites, with diagrams and text.

[tdth]

Thank, I found many more, maybe I will get what I expect

[alxian]

i like the idea that buckyballs and hydrogen [in metallic form] can be used as conductors.

 

buckyballs could be used in various applications such as intelligent networks, the 'wire' would be carbon nanotubes with diamond optical guides, add switches at strategic points for redundance..

 

as in i robot nanotubes can also be used for muscle tissue given there strength and versitility.

 

the only catch for now is the cost of producing the compound.. like producing hydrogen cleanly and storing it in its metallic form.

 

read friday by heinlein or try to catch the startrek episodes with space elevators.

 

what application are you looking for?

[Turtle]

___Not to distract from the applications of bucky-balls too much, I just thought to interject that Buckminster predicted that this structure for carbon existed well before it was proven. Fuller's division of space into tetrahedrons rather than cubes continues to stimulate mathematical thinking & we have him entirely to thank for the geodesic dome. :D

[tdth]

but I still don't understand why 32 faces - form is stable. why not 36 or other number.

[Turtle]

I do not know. You might try finding Fuller's original work on the topic; he was never shy about substantiating his claims. I heard he received the inspiration for the geodesic dome while looking at the skin of an orange he was peeling. Be prepared for a possible argument/explanation using tetrahedral space as opposed to cubic space from Bucky. :(

[Turtle]

___Now we have transparent nano tube sheets!

 

http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2005-08/uota-utd081505.php

A quote from the article on this new material:

"Strength normalized to weight is important for many applications, especially in space and aerospace, and this property of the nanotube sheets already exceeds that of the strongest steel sheets and the Mylar and Kapton sheets used for ultralight air vehicles and proposed for solar sails for space applications, according to the researchers. The nanotube sheets can be made so thin that a square kilometer of solar sail would weigh only 30 kilograms."

___Super duper! How do we use it in the WC? :hihi: