Buckminsterfullerene (Bucky Ball): An Advantage of Nanotechnology

            

            Buckminsterfullerene was made in 1985 by Harold Kroto, James Heath, Sean O'Brien, Robert Curl, and Richard Smalley--at Rice University, Houston Texas. The molecule, nicknamed Bucky Ball, looks like a soccer ball and is made of a cage of twenty hexagons and twelve pentagons with a carbon atom at each point in the polygon shape. Its formula is C_60.

              Bucky Balls are found in soot. It has also been found in both solid and gaseous forms in deep space. 

              The Bucky Ball is a class of molecule known as fullerenes. The discovery of Buckminsterfullerene led to the chemistry field studying fullerenes. In general, a fullerene is any molecule composed solely of carbon and makes a hollow sphere, tube, and other shapes.

              Application: Fullerenes in general have been experimented with to treat cancer and target radiation in people's cells. Bucky Balls have not been largely applied in the commercial scene--other than the toy that was marketed as neodymium magnetic superballs. In the medical field, Bucky Balls can be fitted and inserted with helium tracers that will travel through the body to track disease and the like. In addition, in the fight against the HIV virus, Buckminsterfullerene has been used to inhibit the virus before it can damage the body's cells. So far, to the small amount Bucky Balls have been applied, no health side-effect has been detected.