Dallas Researchers Raise Concerns About Buckyballs (Nanotech glitch)

Cox.net for West Texas ^ | 03/29/2004 09:31:03

[Vision Thing]

(Dallas, TX) -- They're called "buckyballs," because they're reminiscent of the geodesic domes popularized by Buckminster Fuller. The soccer ball-shaped molecules are made of carbon atoms and they've become the hot new item in nanotechnology research. But researchers, led by scientists from SMU in Dallas, are reporting evidence buckyballs could be harmful to the health of fish and no one can say yet if humans might be in danger if they consume those fish. While meeting in Anaheim, California yesterday, the American Chemical Society heard a report suggesting buckyballs in their water caused brain damage in fish and wiped out populations of some tiny organisms, which are an important link near the bottom of the aquatic food chain.

[EggsAckley]

Buckyballs ???

[Vision Thing]

Don't ask me. It's those Nanotech researchers who created the name.

I'm sure someday they will find some use for them, but for now, it looks like they're more a danger than a blessing.

[general_re]

Buckyballs.

[wingnutx]

short for "Buckminster Fullerenes" or "fullerenes"

[RonF]

For those of you who don't know what Buckballs are: imagine a sphere, except rather than being perfectly spherical, it's made up of numerous hexagons linked together, like a geodesic dome. Now imagine this being the representation of a molecule, with an atom of carbon at each vertex (3 bonds to each of 3 other carbon atoms, one bond to a hydrogen atom outside the sphere). I think the smallest one has 60 carbon atoms. Oddly enough they do occur naturally in soot. The concept is that if one can make them and enclose ions/atoms/drugs/etc. inside, they might have industrial/commercial/medical applications.

[dfwgator]

Red Sox fans have never gotten over the "Bucky Ball" of 1978.

[A. Morgan]

http://www.ornl.gov/info/ornlreview/rev26-2/text/rndmain1.html

[68skylark]

I seem to recall an article in the New York Times science section maybe 20 years ago, saying that Buckyballs are the hot new thing in research.

Now here we are all these years later, and as far as I've heard they aren't really useful for anything. But they're still the hot new thing in research.

[RonF]

Oops. My mistake. They are pure carbon; some of the Carbon-Carbon bonds are double bonds.

[A. Morgan]

http://nanotech-now.com/nanotube-buckyball-sites.htm

[wingnutx]

They may be an amazing lubricant, as well.

Named after Buckminster Fuller, inventor of the geodesic dome.

I remember them showing up in a Larry Niven story 20-30 years ago.

[theFIRMbss]

>Dallas Researchers Raise Concerns About Buckyballs (Nanotech glitch)

The Gray Goo Problem

by Robert A. Freitas Jr.

In Eric Drexler's classic "grey goo" scenario, out-of-control nanotech replicators wipe out all life on Earth. This paper by Robert A. Freitas Jr. was the first quantitative technical analysis of this catastrophic scenario, also offering possible solutions. It was written in part as an answer to Bill Joy's recent concerns.

Research Scientist, Zyvex

Originally published April 2000 as "Some Limits to Global Ecophagy by Biovorous Nanoreplicators, with Public Policy Recommendations." Excerpted version published on KurzweilAI.net March 20, 2001.

Abstract

The maximum rate of global ecophagy by biovorous self-replicating nanorobots is fundamentally restricted by the replicative strategy employed; by the maximum dispersal velocity of mobile replicators; by operational energy and chemical element requirements; by the homeostatic resistance of biological ecologies to ecophagy; by ecophagic thermal pollution limits (ETPL); and most importantly by our determination and readiness to stop them.

Assuming current and foreseeable energy-dissipative designs requiring ~100 MJ/kg for chemical transformations (most likely for biovorous systems), ecophagy that proceeds slowly enough to add ~4°C to global warming (near the current threshold for immediate climatological detection) will require ~20 months to run to completion; faster ecophagic devices run hotter, allowing quicker detection by policing authorities. All ecophagic scenarios examined appear to permit early detection by vigilant monitoring, thus enabling rapid deployment of effective defensive instrumentalities.

Introduction

Recent discussions . . .

[Hodar]

Buckyballs ???

A form of carbon, like graphite, or diamond, it just the way the carbon atoms attach themselves together. Literally, the molecular structure of Carbon includes

Graphite

Diamond

And Fullerine (aka Buckyballs)

Why carbon in this form is harmful, but carbon in either the graphite or diamond structures is benign is anybodies guess. Chemically speaking, they are identical.

[Vision Thing]

The Bucky Ball of 78, which broke the hearts of those in the Red Sox Nation, was more devastating than these nanotech Buckyballs, which only kill fish.

[glock rocks]

Buckyballs ???

[Yo-Yo]

it's made up of numerous hexagons linked together, like a geodesic dome.

Actually, a C60 Buckyball looks just like a soccer ball, with hexagonal and pentagonal panels.

[RonF]

Yeah, I was oversimplifying. But the Soccer ball is a better example.

[FierceDraka]

Sounds like yet another stealth attack by the neo-Luddites.

You know, the Chicken Littles who are always running around screaming and crying about (insert scary item of the week) causing (insert scary disease of the week) in (insert cute fuzzy lab animal).

These people seem to forget that we're all going to die, it's only a question of how and when.

[dfwgator]

The original "Bucky Ball."