C-60, the Celestial Sphere that Fell to Earth

Presenter: Harry Kroto

Published: March 2009

Age: 14-19 and upwards

Views: 1622 views

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Type: Lectures

Source/institution: Vega

In 1985 an experiment, designed to unravel the carbon chemistry in Red Giant Stars, revealed the existence of C-60 Buckminsterfullerene (the third allotropic form of carbon). The story of the discovery and the way its symmetry relates to the natural and physical world are described. This elegant cage molecule which has the same shape as a football heralds a new era of novel 21st Century Materials.