• Question: Suggest why buckmisterfullerene has a much lower melting point than diamond

    Asked by skcheung1 to Anouk, Chris, Judith, Leisha, Seyyed on 15 Jun 2012.
    • Photo: Judith Sleeman

      Judith Sleeman answered on 15 Jun 2012:

      In diamond, the carbon atoms form all of their four possible covalent bonds with other carbon atoms, so it’s a really stable structure. I’m not an expert in buckyballs, but they have a structure like a football, so I’m guessing that not all of the possible carbon-carbon covalent bonds are made so the structure is less stable.

      Are you going to tell me the real answer??

    • Photo: Anouk Gouvras

      Anouk Gouvras answered on 15 Jun 2012:

      My lord! that’s the first time I heard of that….maybe I wasn’t paying attention in chemistry. Has it got something to to with the type of bonds that hold the carbon atoms together? Like Judith says in the diamond the carbon atoms are bound by covalent bonds which are very strong. Sooooo maybe vandervals bonds in the bucky thingy? Is that a thing? Need to find my chemistry text book.

    • Photo: Chris Kettle

      Chris Kettle answered on 19 Jun 2012:

      Diamonds are sparkly.

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