Chemistry is just amazing. There are 4 main branches of chemistry, inorganic, organic, analytical and physical. I won’t go into every detail of each, but I would just like to mention that out of all of the elements in the periodic table of elements, it is carbon that has formed a whole separate branch of chemistry since it just can do a lot of things. I am now 32 years old and when I was in 3rd year high school in 1989, I still remember very well my chemistry… errr teacher. I remember my chemistry teacher well, Miss Valerio. She was a fresh graduate out of the University of the Philippines with no teaching experience. But I know she knew her Chemistry very, very well. There were only 3 pure carbon compounds discovered that time. Which was plain carbon, like in carbon soot; graphite which was common in tennis rackets that time and I even remember the ACS Z-Rim made in graphite but ACS no longer makes them; And lastly, we have the diamond.
Being a chemistry major, I am pretty much up-to-date with the new stuff coming out in science and technology. And while I was in college, the Buckyball was a hot topic, it was the other pure carbon compound. Although it was discovered way earlier, in 1985 actually, there was no good process of isolating and purifying Buckyballs. Buckyballs are part of a class of pure carbon compounds called fullerenes. Their molecules are spherical in shape. Buckyball is similar to graphite in having many hexane rings, but differs in having some amount of pentane and/or heptane rings which allows it to form spherical structures. Buckyball is the nickname for Buckminster Fullerene, a C60 molecule (molecule with 60 carbon atoms bonded together) forming a structure very similar to the lines on a soccer ball.
Now, basically Fullerenes are molecular spheres, it is already amazing enough to imagine submicroscopic balls, but aside from that, there are also tubes! The carbon nanotubes! But wait… I really can’t understand this shit. What the hell am I going to do with these very tiny tubes I can’t even see? Well these tubes actually can form something strong when they are together. And if you thought titanium would be the strongest and lightest material ideal for structures like airplanes and other stuff under stress, move over titanium. Here comes the carbon nanotube. Carbon Nanotubes are so strong, there are plans of using it is for an elevator. An elevator going to space! Totally not a joke. The only thing that can beat that is the straiway to heaven!
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