Fullerenes

Rationale:
I chose to do fullerenes because I read a short summary on them and thought the topic sounded interesting. Also I went on the sites located at the bottom of our first page of the packet and went through the topics and their summaries. I wrote a list of topics I thought would be interesting to look into and research. I was thinking about doing the law of falling bodies but I talked to Ms. Marston and decided to do fullerenes as my topic. I found the topic very interesting and fascinating. It made me really enjoy chemistry and look at it from a new perspective.
      How have buckminsterfullerenes impacted society?         How are fullerenes related to physical science?     Fullerenes are a part of organic chemistry and we did a chemistry unit. Also we learnt about covalent bonds and electrons and atoms. Fullerenes have carbon atoms that form covalent bonds in which electrons are shared between the bonding atoms. Also fullerenes have a valence electron configuration of carbon is described as 2s2 2p2. That shows that the carbon atom shares more electrons to achieve the stable noble gas configuration than other nonmetals. Fullerenes are a form of a carbon molecule that consists of a spherical, ellipsoid or cylindrical arrangement of carbon atoms. We also studied the boiling point of elements and the boiling point of fullerenes sublimes at 800k. The resistivity is 1,014 ohms. Plus many fullerenes have been discovered in carbon soot and uncovered by electron microscopy. Overall there are many reasons why fullerenes relate to physical science. The best way they are related are by the fact that they are a part of chemistry and we did a chemistry unit so it ties into everything we learnt during that unit.
Since fullerenes were discovered they have not caused much technological advancements. Currently fullerenes are not yet used commercially, though ways to commercially use them are being researched. For example, they are trying to use it in catalytic...