Definitions

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun chemistry, informal A buckminsterfullerene molecule.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • noun a spheroidal fullerene; the first known example of a fullerene

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[Shortening and alteration of buckminsterfullerene + ball.]

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Examples

  • Not just any carbon molecule, but a "buckyball" -- 60 carbon atoms arranged in the shape of a soccer ball, with the same structure as the geodesic dome popularized by Buckminster Fuller.

    Get Ready For Nanotechnology 2008

  • Lockheed Martin is sponsoring the Year of the Nano, Rice's celebration of the Nobel Prize-winning discovery of the buckminsterfullerene molecule -- the "buckyball" -- that enables nanotechnology.

    Nano Tech Wire 2010

  • A research team has identified a new biological function for a soccer ball-shaped nanoparticle called a buckyball -- the ability to block allergic response, setting the stage for the development of new therapies for allergy.

    June 20th, 2007 2007

  • University of Western Ontario astronomer Jan Cami holds a model of the C60 molecule buckminsterfullerene, also known as a buckyball, which he and his team have discovered in space using NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope.

    Toronto Sun 2010

  • he droplet, which is about 1mm 10 million times larger than an atom, is also one million times larger than the second largest object--a 2-nm molecule called a buckyball--whose wave-particle duality was observed in 2003.

    Now This is Cool! Zoe Brain 2006

  • he droplet, which is about 1mm 10 million times larger than an atom, is also one million times larger than the second largest object--a 2-nm molecule called a buckyball--whose wave-particle duality was observed in 2003.

    Archive 2006-10-01 Zoe Brain 2006

  • The digital text also captured the evolving structure of a living language, and almost a half-million English words that have appeared since 1950, partly reflecting the growing number of technical terms, such as buckyball, netiquette and phytonutrient.

    Word-Wide Web Launches Robert Lee Hotz 2010

  • A new study from Rice University predicts the existence and stability of another "buckyball" consisting entirely of boron atoms.

    They say Newton was mad, they said Tesla was mad, 2007

  • Smalley won a Nobel Prize in chemistry for his discovery of buckminsterfullerene, fondly known as the "buckyball" in industry circles.

    The Speculist: Richard Smalley: Visionary and Pioneer 2005

  • Smalley won a Nobel Prize in chemistry for his discovery of buckminsterfullerene, fondly known as the "buckyball" in industry circles.

    The Speculist: October 2005 Archives 2005

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