Substances (pp. 10–13) discusses a form of carbon known as graphene in which carbon atoms are arranged in honeycomb-like sheets, but there are several other ways that carbon atoms can be arranged. Graphite and diamond are well-known allotropes (see CHEMISTRY REVIEW, Vol. 18, No. 1, pp. 30–31) but since 1985 a whole variety of carbon nanostructures have been discovered: the fullerenes and carbon nanotubes (see CHEMISTRY REVIEW, Vol. 2, No. 1, pp. 2–6; Vol. 9, No. 3, pp. 30–31 and Vol. 15, No. 1, p. 34). The most famous of these carbon structures is C60, buckminsterfullerene, often affectionately referred to as a bucky ball, which bears a remarkable resemblance to a football.
It can be difficult to fully appreciate a three-dimensional molecular structure when looking at a two-dimensional image, so it is always more enlightening to build a model. Commercially available modelling kits can be expensive, but it is possible to build fantastic models simply with paper or card. The Nottingham Nanocarbon Group realised this and has put together a series of free downloadable worksheets (Figure 1) to enable you to build models of fullerenes, including a giant origami bucky ball that uses 90 pieces of paper (Figure 2). What an excellent way this is to recycle some of the scrap paper that seems to accumulate.
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