The Science Book

320

THE SOCCER BALL

CAN WITHSTAND A

LOT OF PRESSURE

HARRY KROTO (1939–)

F

or more than two centuries,

scientists thought that

elemental carbon (C)

existed in only three forms, or

allotropes: diamond, graphite,

and amorphous carbon—the main

constituent of soot and charcoal.

That changed in 1985 with the

work of British chemist Harry Kroto

and his American colleagues

Robert Curl and Richard Smalley.

The chemists vaporized graphite

IN CONTEXT

BRANCH

Chemistry

BEFORE

1966 British chemist

David Jones predicts the

creation of hollow carbon

molecules.

1970 Scientists in Japan

and Britain independently

predict the existence of the

carbon-60 (C 60 ) molecule.

AFTER

1988 C 60 is found in soot

from candles.

1993 German physicist

Wolfgang Krätschmer and

American physicist Don

Huffman develop a method

for synthesizing “fullerenes.”

1999 Austrian physicists

Markus Arndt and Anton

Zeilinger demonstrate that C 60

has wavelike properties.

2010 The spectrum of C 60 is

seen in cosmic dust 6,500

light years from Earth.

with a laser beam to produce

various carbon clusters, forming

molecules with an even number of

carbon atoms. The most abundant

clusters had the formulae C 60 and

C 70. These were molecules that had

never been seen before.

C 60 (or carbon-60) soon turned

out to have remarkable properties.

The chemists realized that it had

a structure like a soccer ball—a

complete spherical cage of carbon

We’ve made a molecule that is so tough and resilient that...

...it has multiple applications in many fields of technology

and medicine.

The soccer ball can withstand a lot of pressure.

It is shaped like a soccer ball.