Construct a Buckyball (Fullerene)

Buckyballs are one of my favorite shapes. Simple, strong, and with plenty of space inside, they are one of the strongest shapes in nature. If you don't know what they are, click here. Carbon buckyball molecules have been smashed against a wall at nearly the speed of light. yet they just bounce back into shape!

In this Instructable, you will build a very basic buckyball. Use it as a soccer ball, hackysack, or just for a cool and geeky decoration.

I constructed this buckyball using Winson Chan's diagram here . The file is under Joseph Wu's site, so make sure to check it out too.

Step 1 Materials

You will need:

Paper (Photo paper, construction paper, or regular printer paper)
Scissors (Paper cutter, utility knife, hobby knife works well too)
Computer
Printer
PDF file viewer
Stapler*
Photoshop*
Winamp Player* (Or other music player with visualizations)

The items marked with an * are optional. (It is a good idea to staple the units together if you are going to be using heavy paper) They are not required but add your own style to the project. There are two ways to do this instructable. The first takes the most time, and the second, the least amount of time involved. So, if you are feeling rather lazy, or simply don't have the time, pick number 2.

1 - Is to go step by step and make your own design with Winamp, adding them to Photoshop and resizing the images. You'll need the PSD file.
2 - Is to download the sheets ready to print. Also do this if you don't have Photoshop.

Comments

[bike100]

go nanotech

[cowscankill]

I just made a uh... 3d figure from georgehart.com at the teacher assignments section. I don't know what the name is, but here is the description: This second construction is made of 30 squares, the squares of the rhombicosahedron or the rhombidodecadodecahedron. Here is a virtual model. To make your own, divide a square's edges at the eight golden ratio points, cut slits like this template, and slide everything together. I made this one with 3.5 inch squares, so six fit on one 8.5 by 11 sheet of paper, and I photocopied my template onto five different-colored sheets of card stock, assembled according to the 5-colored rhombic triacontahedron. Took me maybe 2 hours to make.

[savain]

how many units do you need to fold? to be abel to construct a bucky ball? :) just wondering :)

[vitruvian8807]

You'll need 30 for this one.

[Canned Husky]

Hooray for Buckminsterfullerenes :o)

[The Expert Noob]

Sweet!!! I gata find some time to build this. maybe a video of folding one piece and how it goes together?

[vitruvian8807]

Sure, I'll try to get it done before Saturday.

[1arrow24]

Thats pretty cool- the way they hook into each other