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buckyballs

3/31/2017

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The book Chemistry on a Budget contains inexpensive chemistry labs that are useful with easy to obtain materials.
 
There are two versions of each lab, one with a ten-question conclusion and one with directions for a full lab report.  This way the teacher has the option!  Each lab is two pages to allow for one two-sided handout. 
 
You can buy this lab book for $23 at amazon.com or lulu.com. It will take 1-2 weeks to get to you --
Order Now.  It’s a great resource!
 
http://www.amazon.com/Chemistry-Budget-Marjorie-R-Heesemann/dp/0578129159/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1389410170&sr=1-1&keywords=chemistry+on+a+budget

http://www.lulu.com/shop/marjorie-r-heesemann/chemistry-on-a-budget/paperback/product-21217600.html
 
*Some of you have already purchased my lab book – be sure to check out Page 141 !
 
This blog entry is about the
buckyball, a type of nonpolar covalent bond that is very strong due to its 3-dimensional structure.
 
According to a May 2, 2016 Popular Science article,

“… British chemist Sir Harry Kroto … is the co-discoverer of buckyballs, a form of carbon that is made up of 60 atoms and shaped like ‘a hollow soccer ball.’ The discovery won Kroto and his team the Noble Prize in chemistry. This cover story, written by Edward Edelson and originally published in the August 1991 issue of Popular Science, explores how buckyballs were accidentally discovered and the future of possibilities to those scientists in 1991.”
http://www.popsci.com/buckyball-magic-molecule
 
“Buckyballs are composed of carbon atoms linked to three other carbon atoms by covalent bonds. However, the carbon atoms are connected in the same pattern of hexagons and pentagons you find on a soccer ball, giving a buckyball the spherical structure as shown in the following figure.
The most common buckyball contains 60 carbon atoms and is sometimes called C60.Other sizes of buckyballs range from those containing 20 carbon atoms to those containing more than 100 carbon atoms.

The covalent bonds between carbon atoms make buckyballs very strong, and the carbon atoms readily form covalent bonds with a variety of other atoms. Buckyballs are used in composites to strengthen material. Buckyballs have the interesting electrical property of being very good electron acceptors, which means they accept loose electrons from other materials. This feature is useful, for example, in increasing the efficiency of solar cells in transforming sunlight into electricity.”

http://www.understandingnano.com/what-is-buckyball-c60.html

In 2014, “…researchers...observed in real-time how football-shaped carbon molecules arrange themselves into ultra-smooth layers. Together with theoretical simulations, the investigation reveals the fundamentals of this growth process for the first time in detail...This knowledge will eventually enable scientists to tailor nanostructures for certain applications from these carbon molecules, which play an increasing role in the promising field of plastic electronics.”
http://www.internetchemistry.com/news/2014/nov14/c60-multilayer-growth.php
 
Your students may find this area of research interesting as a new material and its applications continue to be explored.  This may be an interesting  topic for Extra Credit research for your students.
 
Past blog posts about Chemical Bonds include:
 
02/12/2014           Intramolecular Forces
                               (ionic, covalent and metallic bonds)
 
02/19/2014           Electrons in the Atom
 
03/09/2014           Lewis Structures and VSEPR theory
 
03/12/2015           Electron Dot Diagram
 
03/19/2015           VSEPR Theory Labs and Resources
 
​
*This Blog contains several entries that would be helpful to your chemistry classroom.  Check out the Topic List to help you to find past Blog entries.
 
Also, 
Write To Me about your successes, challenges, or questions in the Chemistry Classroom.
 

Remember, buying a copy of the lab book Chemistry on a Budget can be very useful to your Chemistry classroom with labs and class article ideas.

Have a great weekend!

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    Marjorie R. Heesemann is a chemistry teacher with 15 years of experience who is now working to develop resources for the Chemistry classroom.

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