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How is the structure of C60 similar to a soccer ball?
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fullerene
Two fullerene structures: an elongated carbon nanotube and a spherical buckminsterfullerene, or “buckyball.”
The structure of the C60 molecule, also known as buckminsterfullerene or a "buckyball," is similar to a soccer ball because it is a highly symmetrical, hollow sphere composed of 60 carbon atoms.12
Geometrically, this molecule is a truncated icosahedron, which consists of 32 faces: 12 pentagons and 20 hexagons. These 60 atoms form the vertices of the structure, mirroring the exact geometric pattern found on the surface of a standard soccer ball. This unique, cage-like design was named after architect R. Buckminster Fuller, whose geodesic dome structures are built upon the same fundamental principles of geometry.132