DailyDirt: Curious Carbon Configurations

Carbon gets a lot of negative publicity because it's associated with carbon dioxide as a greenhouse gas, but the element itself is critical to life and has numerous fascinating properties. Carbon comes in a variety of allotropes, and we're discovering other carbon-based structures all the time. Here are just a few more examples.

• Volleyballene is a combination of carbon and scandium atoms that forms a volleyball shape -- analogous to how carbon can form a classic soccer ball shape (aka the 60-carbon atom buckyball). Okay, so this molecule hasn't been synthesized or observed, but computer simulations say it should be remarkably stable. [url]
• Penta-graphene is a sheet of pure carbon (yet another allotrope!) that hasn't been synthesized yet, but if it can be made, it might be useful as a semiconductor to complement electrically-conducting graphene. Simulations predict penta-graphene is stable, assuming anyone can actually make it. [url]
• Aerographite is a lighter-than-air material made of a carbon foam. It is extremely compressible, electrically conductive and is one of the least dense materials ever made. [url]

If you'd like to read more awesome and interesting stuff, check out this unrelated (but not entirely random!) Techdirt post via StumbleUpon.

Permalink | Comments | Email This Story