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Can you be poisonous / harmful to the human body eg if touched/consumed
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are you an organic molecule? (a molecule that contains carbon)
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Congrats, bob zea!!
Yes, I am buckminsterfullerene.
Buckminsterfullerene, also known as a "bucky-ball", is an allotrope (pure form) of carbon, like diamond and graphite. Chemical symbol C60, it's sixty molecules of carbon (blue) that form a soccer ball shape - a combined twenty hexagons (yellow and red) and twelve pentagons (red).
The molecule is named after architect, inventor and futurist Richard Buckminster Fuller (1895-1983). Though the structure was described much earlier by Leonardo da Vinci, Fuller developed the intrinsic mathematics of the geodesic dome as a building and received U.S. patent 2,682,235 for it in 1954. The strength of the structure comes from the intersection of struts to form triangular elements that have local triangular rigidity and also distribute stress along the surface. This is the Climatron, in Missouri, USA:
And Science World in Vancouver, Canada:
As for its tiny molecular counterpart, scientists theorized the existence of buckminsterfullerene as an extremely stable configuration of carbon atoms some twenty years before its actual discovery. The team of Harold Kroto, Robert Curl and Richard Smalley was awarded the 1996 Nobel Prize in Chemistry for the discovery of buckminsterfullerene in 1985. It spawned a new field of chemistry on the study of it and other fullerenes (e.g. carbon nanotubes or "bucky-tubes").
Link: Nanomaterials
A small amount of buckminsterfullerene occurs naturally in soot. It's also been detected in deep space. It can be synthesized in large (kg) quantities in a lab. Perhaps surprisingly, it was not toxic when ingested by lab rats.
No application of buckminsterfullerene has been commercialized though it is the subject of intense research, particularly in medicine. Because it's hollow, buckminsterfullerene can form a cage around other atoms and molecules, and be used as a chemical tracer. It was also found to be an inhibitor of the HIV virus. The optical absorption properties of C60 match the solar spectrum and suggest that it could have applications in photovoltaic cells and solar panels.
Carbon itself is an incredible element. It occurs in more different forms than any other element in the periodic table - over 10 million carbon compounds known. The study of carbon compounds is its own field in chemistry: organic chemistry or "orgo", the bane of pre-med students.
Carbon is the 6th most common element in the universe, and the 4th most common in our solar system. It's the 2nd most common element in the human body after oxygen, accounting for some 18% of total body weight.
Naturally occurring isotope Carbon-14 (
bob zea) is radioactive and its trace presence in once-living organisms is used for carbon-dating for age.
Carbon allotropes span an enormous range of extremes, considering that they are all merely structural formations of the same element. For example:
- Diamond is clear and transparent; graphite is black and opaque; carbon nanofoam is a low-density cluster-assembly of carbon atoms strung together in a loose 3D web only slightly denser than air at sea level.
- Diamond is the hardest mineral known (10 on the Mohs scale) but graphite is one of the softest (1-2 on the Mohs scale).
- Diamond is an electrical insulator and thermal conductor; graphite is an electrical conductor and thermal insulator.
Science!
Thanks for playing, all.
Yes, I am buckminsterfullerene.
Buckminsterfullerene, also known as a "bucky-ball", is an allotrope (pure form) of carbon, like diamond and graphite. Chemical symbol C60, it's sixty molecules of carbon (blue) that form a soccer ball shape - a combined twenty hexagons (yellow and red) and twelve pentagons (red).
The molecule is named after architect, inventor and futurist Richard Buckminster Fuller (1895-1983). Though the structure was described much earlier by Leonardo da Vinci, Fuller developed the intrinsic mathematics of the geodesic dome as a building and received U.S. patent 2,682,235 for it in 1954. The strength of the structure comes from the intersection of struts to form triangular elements that have local triangular rigidity and also distribute stress along the surface. This is the Climatron, in Missouri, USA:
And Science World in Vancouver, Canada:
As for its tiny molecular counterpart, scientists theorized the existence of buckminsterfullerene as an extremely stable configuration of carbon atoms some twenty years before its actual discovery. The team of Harold Kroto, Robert Curl and Richard Smalley was awarded the 1996 Nobel Prize in Chemistry for the discovery of buckminsterfullerene in 1985. It spawned a new field of chemistry on the study of it and other fullerenes (e.g. carbon nanotubes or "bucky-tubes").
Link: Nanomaterials
A small amount of buckminsterfullerene occurs naturally in soot. It's also been detected in deep space. It can be synthesized in large (kg) quantities in a lab. Perhaps surprisingly, it was not toxic when ingested by lab rats.
No application of buckminsterfullerene has been commercialized though it is the subject of intense research, particularly in medicine. Because it's hollow, buckminsterfullerene can form a cage around other atoms and molecules, and be used as a chemical tracer. It was also found to be an inhibitor of the HIV virus. The optical absorption properties of C60 match the solar spectrum and suggest that it could have applications in photovoltaic cells and solar panels.
Carbon itself is an incredible element. It occurs in more different forms than any other element in the periodic table - over 10 million carbon compounds known. The study of carbon compounds is its own field in chemistry: organic chemistry or "orgo", the bane of pre-med students.
Carbon is the 6th most common element in the universe, and the 4th most common in our solar system. It's the 2nd most common element in the human body after oxygen, accounting for some 18% of total body weight.
Naturally occurring isotope Carbon-14 (
bob zea) is radioactive and its trace presence in once-living organisms is used for carbon-dating for age.Carbon allotropes span an enormous range of extremes, considering that they are all merely structural formations of the same element. For example:
- Diamond is clear and transparent; graphite is black and opaque; carbon nanofoam is a low-density cluster-assembly of carbon atoms strung together in a loose 3D web only slightly denser than air at sea level.
- Diamond is the hardest mineral known (10 on the Mohs scale) but graphite is one of the softest (1-2 on the Mohs scale).
- Diamond is an electrical insulator and thermal conductor; graphite is an electrical conductor and thermal insulator.
Science!
Thanks for playing, all.
Contest Manager
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This round, bob zea discovered in 8 questions that we were looking for an obscure molecule (at least to me 
) and receives 40 wrz$.
profprofessorson tortured you for 47 questions and receives 236 wrz$
Congrats, you two!
Now bob zea is invited to start the next round with the subject he sent me...
) and receives 40 wrz$.profprofessorson tortured you for 47 questions and receives 236 wrz$
Congrats, you two!
Now bob zea is invited to start the next round with the subject he sent me...
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Have fun!
Q & A
1. are you a (real or otherwise) person? Yep
2. Are you alive today? No
3. Are you a man? Yes
4. Were you from the Americas? No
5. Were you british? Yes P.S am peeved with myself as was going to put bucky ball
Well, it's a start by getting British right Maybe the luck will hold. 6. Are you a real person? Yes
7. Did you live during the 1500s? No
8. Are you a leader? No
9. Were you born prior to 1900? Yes
10. Are you a scientist? A simple Yes or No answer is debatable
11. were you born prior to 1800? No
12. are you Charles Darwin? No
13. Did you invent something? No
14. Are you known for your work in any of the arts? No
15. Were you a mathematician? No
16. Are you known because of your theories? No
17. Are you an explorer? No
18. Are you associated with manufacturing? No
19. Were you English? Yes
20. Are you known for your publications? No
21. Were you known for helping people? No
22. Are you an educator, teacher, professor etc? No
23. Are you known for a negative / unpopular / unpleasant reason? No (Welcome back prof. Thought you had run off to Chile.
)24. Were you a politician? No. I could actually answer this either No, or that it's debatable. You'd really have to be up on this to get a clue out of this discrepancy though.
25. Were you involved in a public scandal? No
26. Are you known for something you did outside of Britain? Yes, indeed
27. Were you a man of business? Nope
28. Were you a member of the royal family? No
29. Are you titled / royal? Yes
30. Did what you are known for happen in the twentieth century? Edit: Yes I changed it to Yes because that's the better answer. Sorry for any confusion.
31. Are you known for something you did in a place that was then or later became part of the British empire? No
32. Were you known in your role as a soldier? No
33. Were you conferred any notable awards like Nobel Peace award? A simple Yes or No answer is debatable. (A rephrasing of the question would get a better answer.
)34. Are you Duke? No, I am not John Wayne.
j/k The answer is still No though 35. Were you known for a political campaign? No
36. were you known mainly for your interaction with another culture? No
37. Are you a famous athlete? No
38. Are yiu an archaeologist such as sir arthur john evans? Well, lemme see. ((((YAWN)))) Oh, gee, I don't know, maybe? Well, okay, YESSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS!!!!!