Buckyballs, Graphene, and Nanotubes Video Lecture - Civil Engineering (CE)

in this video we are going to learn
about the structures of buckyballs also
known as Bucks Minster fullerenes
graphene and nanotubes and what their
importance are in an era of science
called nanoscience you may already be
familiar with diamond and graphite as
two allotropes of carbon allotropes are
structurally different forms of an
element there's a video on this channel
called giant chemical structures that
you might want to look at if you have
watched this video can you remember the
structural arrangement of the carbon
atoms in graphite pause the video and
resume when ready the answer is that
graph I exists the sheets of carbon
atoms arranged in hexagonal rings
fullerenes
are carbon-based molecules with a hollow
cage line structure Robert curl Harold
kroto and Richard Smalley discovered the
most common fullerene in 1985 the
buckminsterfullerene it consists of
molecules containing 60 carbon atoms
joined together forming a hollow sphere
there is an alternating arrangement of
hexagons and pentagons much like that
seen in a football can you think why the
space inside the fullerene is of
importance pause the video and continue
when you have a suggestion the answer is
the space is big enough for atoms and
molecules to fit inside already
scientists are utilizing these to cage
radioactive metal atoms and drugs in one
potential drug therapy bucky balls
containing cancer drugs are coated with
a chemical that causes them to gather
around cancerous cells once there they
deliver their drugs without harming
healthy cells graphene is very similar
to graphite except there are no
intermolecular forces holding the
hexagonal arrangements of carbon atoms
together it has a two dimensional
structure
it has some very special properties
which make it a material for the future
despite being one atom thick it is
incredibly strong the graphene can
conduct electricity as efficiently as
copper the graphene is virtually
transparent yet is so dense that not
even helium atoms which are tiny can
pass through so far we have encountered
two examples which both share a common
theme the fullerene fullerenes hold a
special importance in nanoscience a
relatively new area of science which
involves the study of nanoparticles
nanoparticles are tiny particles made up
of only a few hundred atoms they can
measure between one nanometer and 100
nanometers across a nanometer is a
billionth of meter to illustrate how
small is's the human hair is about a
hundred thousand nanometers in diameter
fullerene particles can be joined
together to make nano tubes these nano
tubes have massive surface areas
compared to their volumes and this makes
them excellent catalysts you may recall
that a chemical reaction takes place at
the surface of the catalyst and so
having more surfaces enables that
catalyst to work more efficiently
nanotubes are the strongest and stiffest
materials ever discovered often they are
used to reinforce tennis racquets made
out of graphite all of these fullerene
structures are revolutionary in the
developing field of nanoscience the
nanoparticles mentioned here could be
implicated in the development of new
self-cleaning coatings and ovens and on
windows new types of computer processing
very strong and light building materials
and these followings could be used as
sensors to detect substances and tiny
amounts or to deliver drugs to specific
sites in the body in summary there are
freaky nanoparticles the box Minster
fullerenes
graphene and nanotubes these
nanoparticles have a wide range of
potential uses for the future
you