Chemists Build First "Buckyball" Made of Boron 39
CelestialScience writes Researchers have built the first "buckyballs" composed entirely of boron. Unlike the original, carbon-based buckyballs, the boron molecules are not shaped like soccer balls, with tessellating pentagons and hexagons. Instead, they are molecular cages made up of hexagons, heptagons and triangles. As Lai-Sheng Wang of Brown University and colleagues report in the journal Nature Chemistry, each one contains 40 atoms, compared with carbon buckyballs which are made of 60. Boron is not the first element after carbon to get "buckyballed", but the boron balls may be the closest analogue to the carbon variety. Because of their reactivity, they could be useful for storing hydrogen.
Boron? (Score:5, Funny)
Boron's OK, I suppose, but bacon would have been way wicked cooler.
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The first time I read the headline I thought it said Chemists Build First "Buckyball" Made of Bacon .
Boron's OK, I suppose, but bacon would have been way wicked cooler.
Same here, I was just about to post that. Too funny.
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And today is a sad day on the internet. I searched for a bucky ball made of bacon, and it didn't exist.
Re:Boron? (Score:5, Funny)
Step 1: Build buckyball model out of wooden skewers and string.
Step 2: Wrap skewers in raw bacon.
Step 3: Microwave.
Step 4: Post to YouTube.
Step 5: Profit!
(Note to whoever actually tries this: Depending on the scale of your model, some of the bacon loops may resonantly couple with the field in your microwave oven. Don't be surprised at arcs and flames. Please don't skip Step 4.)
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You do NOT want to be the first person to get "buckyballed".
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I knew I couldn't have been the only one to read it that way.
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what a glorious failure! (Score:4, Funny)
This is cool shit (Score:4, Insightful)
Re:This is cool shit (Score:5, Informative)
Wikipedia claims to differ with several thousand tons produced and used annually [wikipedia.org].
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lol - fail much?
Of course we can make all kinds of things from carbon nanotubes.
From heatsinks
http://www.extremetech.com/extreme/175457-this-carbon-nanotube-heatsink-is-six-times-more-thermally-conductive-could-trigger-a-revolution-in-cpu-clock-speeds
Darkest black paint
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/science/blackest-is-the-new-black-scientists-have-developed-a-material-so-dark-that-you-cant-see-it-9602504.html
radios
http://www.physics.berkeley.edu/research/zettl/projects/nanoradio/radio.html
transistors
htt
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Replace chrome with carbon black, put carbon black lense covers over headlights and taillights. Rear and side windows cover with a carbon black film and you a car that will be so hot in the summer time that it would melt the occupant. :)
It was mostly a joke, but thanks for playing.
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Cops have to aim the laser off of what to bounce it off of. That's why you see people with license plate covers that are a little dark -- the idea being the cop will normally aim at your license plate, and you will have some time to react.
Not sure if this actually works or if it's mostly urban legend..
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Re:This is cool shit (Score:5, Informative)
The really, really black stuff from yesterday [slashdot.org] is made with nanotubes.
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Oh, sorry. I don't see color. I judge commercial applications by the content of their character.
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Not true.
Some MRI systems use them
Several non metalic catalyst use them
Some sensors use them.
They are being used more and more as different engineering issues are solved.
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Of course, we still can't make anything out of carbon nanotubes.
Your Slashdot id is apparently a lie... :-)
Carbon nanotubes have been used to make tons of things. The problem with them isn't finding uses for them, it's how expensive they are to make. Keep in mind that aluminum [slate.com] used to be one of the most expensive materials on earth due to its difficulty to smelt.
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Why? The way he did it means that others of his ilk will be able to use his post as a source that Republicans actually did it. His side tend to work that way quite often.
Molten? (Score:4, Interesting)
Was it made of molten boron [youtube.com]?
Nobody doesn't like molten boron.
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I'm glad some one else thought of this too.
Fuels? Rockets? The cool green explosion stuff? (Score:2)
http://aviationtrivia.blogspot... [blogspot.com]
Would it be dangerous like this dude here says (read the tendencies part):
http://www.dequasiebooks.com/g... [dequasiebooks.com]
I also read that these fuels were also researched in USSR. It always makes me wonder what didn't happen there. I know a couple of nice stories myself about the things that didn't happen. Things only happened when they were good or meant to be terrifying or when their fa
The Strong Fifth Element (Score:1)
Monks have known about this for years.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?... [youtube.com]
Multipass (Score:2)