Fuller’s geodesic dome

Fullerenes, Fullerides. Molecular structures of atoms arranged on the surface of a sphere or a cylinder, in hexagonal and pentagonal arrays, in configurations similar to R. Buckminster Fuller s geodesic domes. Nanometersized tubes are being developed based on cylindrical Fullerenes. 28 to 540 carbon atoms in such a spherical arrangement form the most symmetric possible molecules - Buckminster Fullerene or Buckyballs . 

Fuller s geodesic dome was the inspiration for the name of C50, buckminsterfullerene. 

Bose-Einstein Condensate phase of matter that is created just above absolute zero when atoms lose their individual identity Boyle s Law law that states volume of a gas is inversely related to its pressure Breeder Reactor type of nuclear reactor that creates or breeds fissionable plutonium from nonfissionable U-238 Buckministerfullerene Cg, allotrope of carbon consisting of spherical arrangement of carbon, named after architect Buckmin-ister Fuller, Invertor of geodesic dome Buffer a solution that resists a change in pH... 

Buckminster Fuller (1895-1983) was bom in Milton, Massachusetts. He received many architectural awards including the Gold Medals of the American Institute of Architects and the Royal Institute of British Architects. He received 47 honorary doctorates, was awarded 27 U.S. patents, and wrote 25 books. He is best known for his introduction of the geodesic dome for buildings. There are now over 300,000 geodesic domes in the world. 

Figure 7.3 The scientists who discovered the buckyball, also known as buckminsterfullerene, were awarded the 1996 Nobel Prize in Chemistry. The molecule s alternate name is an homage to Buckminster Fuller, an esteemed architect who invented the geodesic dome.

Figure 1 The geodesic dome designed by Buckminster Fuller for the U.S. pavilion at Expo 67 in Montreal.

The Royal Swedish Academy of Science s press release for the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 1996 announced The discovery of carbon atoms bound in the form of a ball is rewarded. Buckminsterfullerene (C60), the buckyball, has the same structure as the geodesic dome designed by Buckminster Fuller for the 1996 Montreal World Exhibition. It also has exactly the same structure as a European soccer ball. 

Fullerene Any of various cagelike molecules that constitute the third form of pure carbon (along with the forms diamond and graphite), whose prototype C60 (bucky-ball) is the roundest molecule that exists fullerenes are a class of discrete molecules, soccerball-shaped forms of carbon with extraordinary stability (so named because their configuration suggests the shape of Buckminster Fuller s famous geodesic dome)... 

H. W. Kroto [7] describes eloquently how his previous encounters with Buckminster Fuller s work, and, in particular, the geodesic dome of the U.S. Exhibition Hall at the 1967 Montreal Expo, have assisted him to arrive at the highly symmet-... 

The 60-carbon molecule in the shape of a geodesic dome is named after the architect who designed the dome, Buckminster Fuller. The molecule s nickname Buckyball is catchier than its full name—Buckminster fullerene. 

Geodesic domes were a favorite design element of the architect and philosopher R. Buckminster Fuller, for whom buckminster-fullerene was named because of its structural resemblance to Fuller s domes. 

A fullerene is any molecule made up of only carbon atoms that has a shape of a sphere, ellipsoid (a distorted sphere), or a tube. The name fullerene comes from Richard Buckminster Fuller, an architect who designed the geodesic dome (Spaceship Earth at Epcot Center is a geodesic dome). The U.S. Post Office recently commemorated Fuller and and his geodesic dome on a stamp. 

Because C50 clusters were so preferentially formed, the group proposed a radically different form of carbon, namely, nearly spherical CgQ molecules. They proposed that the carbon atoms of Cgo form a ball with 32 faces, 12 of them pentagons and 20 hexagons ( FIGURE 12.47), exactly like a soccer ball. The shape of this molecule is reminiscent of the geodesic dome invented by the U.S. engineer and philosopher R. Buckminster Fuller, so Cgo was whimsically named buckminsterfullerene, or buckyball for short. Since the discovery of C q, other related molecules of carbon atoms have been discovered. These molecules are now known as fullerenes. 

Another piece of big news for the inorganic chemist in the late 1900s turned out to be big news for organic, physical, analytical, and biochemists, too. This was the discovery of a third solid form of carbon— the other two being diamond and carbon. This one forms a sphere shaped like the geodesic dome structure designed by the U.S. philosopher and engineer R. Buckminster Fuller it is named appropriately buckminsterfullerene. 

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