Still Waters Posted July 22, 2010 #1 Share Posted July 22, 2010 Scientists have detected the largest molecules ever seen in space, in a cloud of cosmic dust surrounding a distant star.The football-shaped carbon molecules are known as buckyballs, and were only discovered on Earth 25 years ago when they were made in a laboratory. These molecules are the "third type of carbon" - with the first two types being graphite and diamond. The researchers report their findings in the journal Science. Buckyballs consist of 60 carbon atoms arranged in a three-dimensional sphere.The atoms are linked together in alternating patterns of hexagons and pentagons that, on the molecular scale, look exactly like a football. They belong to a class of molecules called buckministerfullerenes - named after the architect Richard Buckminister Fuller, who developed the geodesic dome design that they so closely resemble. The research group, led by Jan Cami from the University of Western Ontario in Canada, made its discovery using Nasa's Spitzer infrared telescope. Professor Cami and his colleagues were not specifically looking for buckyballs, but spotted their unmistakable infrared "signature". Read more... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+HerNibs Posted July 22, 2010 #2 Share Posted July 22, 2010 Nibs Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paracelse Posted July 23, 2010 #3 Share Posted July 23, 2010 It's seems the De Beers family is going to launch their first space ship.. to get the mining right which would eliminated blood diamonds Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pauly Dangerously Posted July 23, 2010 #4 Share Posted July 23, 2010 The Headline is misleading. The molecules are in the shape of footballs, not the size of footballs. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Doc Socks Junior Posted July 24, 2010 #5 Share Posted July 24, 2010 The Headline is misleading. The molecules are in the shape of footballs, not the size of footballs. Pretty big molecules, eh? Haha. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paracelse Posted July 29, 2010 #6 Share Posted July 29, 2010 The Headline is misleading. The molecules are in the shape of footballs, not the size of footballs. hey this is UM, everything is possible Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Druidus-Logos Posted July 31, 2010 #7 Share Posted July 31, 2010 Yeah, at first, I thought they were claiming HUGE molecules. Ha, that'd be more interesting. Then I saw "60 atoms", and realized it wasn't. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fluffybunny Posted July 31, 2010 #8 Share Posted July 31, 2010 Nibs dang it... I was going to ask if they traveled at "Ludicrous Speed". Beat me to it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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