Published by Australian Academy of Science
Buckyballs – a new sphere of science Box 1 | Finding the molecular structure of buckyballs

Once buckyballs had been discovered, the challenge was to work out the molecule's structure. What geometric shape could produce a stable structure combining 60 carbon atoms? One possibility was that the molecule might have a structure similar to flat sheets of graphite wrapped into spheres.

Toothpicks, bubblegum and computers

To test this idea, Kroto, Curl and Smalley made models. One was a sphere formed from 60 bubble gum balls and toothpicks. In a separate attempt, Smalley used his home computer to try to make a ball from a series of hexagons. None of the models worked. The scientists simply could not make a regularly shaped ball from 60 'atoms'.

As a last resort, Smalley cut a sheet of paper into five-sided and six-sided shapes. After a little experimentation, he used sticky tape to join together 12 of the pentagons with 20 hexagons to make a ball. Much to Smalley's delight, the neatly shaped ball had 60 corners. It even bounced!

Related site

• Designs on C₆₀ (Chemistry in Britain, September 1996)

Other boxes

Box 2. The many potential uses of fullerenes