What is Fullerene?
A '''fullerene''' is any [[molecule]] composed entirely of [[carbon]], in the form of a hollow sphere, ellipsoid, or tube. Spherical fullerenes are also called '''buckyballs''', and they resemble the balls used in association football. Cylindrical ones are called carbon nanotubes or buckytubes. They are usually made in the form of a [[wikt:hollow|hollow]] ball or tube. The fullerene was found in 1985 by [[Robert Curl]], [[Harold Kroto]] and [[Richard Smalley]] at the [[University of Sussex]] and [[Rice University]], and was named after [[Buckminster Fuller]] because his famous [[Geodesic dome]]s are similar in shape. Fullerenes are made by the heating of [[graphite]] in an electric arc in the presence of [[inert gas]]es such as [[helium]] or [[argon]]. <gallery> File:Buckminsterfullerene animated.gif|Rotating structure of C<sub>60</sub> File:Football (soccer ball).svg|A soccer ball is a model of the ''C''<sub>60</sub> fullerene File:Fulleren C60 Netzwerk.svg|Network of the C<sub>60</sub> fullerene </gallery> {{Emerging technologies}} [[Category:Allotropes of carbon]]