Buckyball Molecules
The soccer-ball-shaped C60 buckyballs dance alongside hydrogen molecules in this AIMS simulation, mixing Stick and Space-Filling display modes.
The following simulation shows the motions of buckyball molecules C₆₀. Note that we use the Stick mode to display the two buckyballs and the Space-Filling mode to display the two hydrogen molecules.
A Molecular Soccer Ball
A buckyball, or buckminsterfullerene, is a molecule of 60 carbon atoms arranged into a hollow cage shaped exactly like a soccer ball — 20 hexagons and 12 pentagons fitted together into a near-perfect sphere. Every carbon sits at the junction of two hexagons and one pentagon, bonded to three neighbors, so the whole surface is one continuous, closed network of carbon. The molecule takes its name from architect Buckminster Fuller, whose geodesic domes share the same structural idea.
A Third Form of Carbon
When C60 was discovered in 1985 by Kroto, Curl, and Smalley — work that earned them the 1996 Nobel Prize in Chemistry — it revealed an entirely new family of carbon structures, the fullerenes, alongside the long-known diamond and graphite. The same discovery opened the door to related forms such as carbon nanotubes. Because the cage is hollow, atoms or small molecules can even be trapped inside it, and researchers have explored buckyballs for uses ranging from drug delivery to superconductors and lubricants.
About This Simulation
This simulation shows two buckyballs drifting and tumbling alongside two hydrogen molecules. The buckyballs are drawn in Stick mode, which makes their cage-like bonding network easy to see, while the hydrogen molecules are shown in Space-Filling mode. Running molecular dynamics lets you watch how these very different-sized molecules move and interact through thermal motion.
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