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The Discovery of Fullerenes
describes a range of newly found forms of carbon including C60,
a roundish molecule made of 60 carbon atoms. It was named a fullerene
or buckyball after Buckminster Fuller. He invented the geodesic dome, which has a similar structure.
The atoms of a C60 molecule are arranged in a shape
that is the same as a football, or American soccer ball. The formal
name for this shape is truncated icosahedron. It has 32 faces,
of which 20 are regular hexagons and 12 are regular pentagons. These
faces come together at 60 points, or vertices. In a fullerene, there
is a carbon atom at each of these vertices.
The truncated icosahedron is one of 13 Archimedean solids. Look
at Digging
Deeper to
find out more about these shapes.
You can make a paper model of a truncated icosahedron. It will
consist of 20 paper hexagons joined so as to leave 12 pentagon shaped
spaces.
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- Two copies of Pattern 1 printed on stiff paper. (Click
on the image of Pattern 1 to download a PDF file for printing.)
- One copy of Pattern 2 printed on stiff paper. (Click on
the image of Pattern 2 to download a PDF file for printing.)
- Pair of scissors
- Cellophane tape
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| Pattern
1 |
Pattern
2 |
Here's what to do:
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1. Carefully cut out one copy of Pattern 1.
2. Using cellophane tape, attach the two edges marked with
the letter "C" together. Notice that there are now
five hexagons surrounding a pentagon-shaped space.
3. Do the same thing with the second copy of Pattern 1
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4. Cut out Pattern 2. You should have two pieces, each made
of 5 hexagons.
5. Using cellophane tape, attach the edge marked "A"
on one strip to the edge marked "A" on the other
strip.
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6. Using cellophane tape, attach the edge marked "B"
on one strip to the edge marked "B" on the other
strip.
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7. Attach one of the pieces you made from Pattern 1 to the
piece you just completed from Pattern 2 by taping the free
edges of the hexagons together as shown.
8. Turn your construction over and tape the other Pattern
1 piece in place the same way and...
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| ...you're done!
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