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This activity introduces students to the world of nanoscience through the construction of a foldable paper model of the C60 fullerene, also known as the “buckyball.” The molecule consists of 60 carbon atoms arranged in a geometry that also appears in soccer balls, fly’s eyes, geodesic domes, and some viruses: a spherical cage made of 20 hexagons and 12 pentagons. By cutting, folding, and gluing a provided template, students will build their own buckyball model and directly explore the relationship between simple shapes and complex molecular structures.
The activity encourages learning through hands-on construction, visualisation, and analogy. While working, students gain an understanding of how geometry and symmetry underpin both natural and man-made structures. Teachers can guide discussion on how carbon atoms connect, why this particular structure is stable, and where such molecules are found: from laboratories on Earth to distant nebulae in outer space.
Beyond the model itself, the project connects science at different scales. The nanometer size of C60 can be compared to everyday objects, helping students grasp the concept of scale in science. Background is provided on the discovery of fullerenes, their applications in technology and medicine, and their surprising role in astronomy.
This activity has been developed as part of the NanoSpace COST Action
Image: the printed Worksheet with the FoldableC60 and other needed materials
Carbon atoms are the most versatile atoms in the Universe. Each carbon can bond to 4 other atoms building complex shapes of rings, tubes, and large 3D molecules. This way it's able to make structures like DNA and proteins and is thus the very basis of life as we know it on Earth.
One of the shapes carbon can make is a Fullerene. Fullerenes are a special family of carbon molecules where the atoms form hollow cages. The most famous member is C60, also called Buckminsterfullerene or the buckyball. It is made of 60 carbon atoms arranged in a pattern of 20 hexagons and 12 pentagons, the same geometry as a football (soccer ball). This structure is called a truncated icosahedron, one of the Archimedean solids, meaning they are special 3D shapes made by fitting together regular polygons, like triangles, squares, pentagons, and hexagons, in a neat repeating way.
Image: a representation of the Buckminsterfullerene, a football like structure build out of a pattern of 20 hexagons and 12 pentagons. It’s also called a BuckyBall.
C60 is minuscule, only about 1 nanometre across, a billionth of a meter. To put this in perspective, a human hair is about 80,000 nanometres thick. If you could fill a normal football with C60 molecules, you could fit around 7 × 10²⁴ buckyballs inside.
The discovery of C60 in 1985 by Curl, Kroto, and Smalley was a major scientific breakthrough that earned them the Nobel Prize in Chemistry. Later, in 2010, astronomers found C60 in space, in planetary nebulae and interstellar clouds. This confirmed that such complex carbon molecules are not just laboratory curiosities but part of cosmic chemistry.
Image: footballs are built up out of flat shapes of hexagons (6 angles) and pentagons (5 angles).
C60 is important because it connects geometry, chemistry, and astronomy. Its structure helps students see how simple shapes (hexagons and pentagons) can build complex forms at microscopic scales invisible to the naked eye. Its chemistry shows how carbon can create a variety of strong molecules. Furthermore, its detection in space demonstrates how life’s building blocks might be widespread in the universe.
Image: In nature we see these patterns in different places: on the left, in a fly’s eye and on the right, a dome shaped object.
This activity uses a foldable paper model of C60 to help students explore these ideas in a hands-on way, supported by images and explanations on the resource page.
If you want to know more about:https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fullerene
Before the activityDepending on the age of the students and the time available, the activity can be organised in different ways:
Part 1: Introducing the Buckyball
Part 2: Building the buckyball
Image: remove the hexagons marked "cut out" fomr the model
Image: fold and overlap the hexagons with the same picture and glue them
Image: two views of the finished model
Depending on the age and capacities of the students you can ask them the following questions:
Level Easy :
Level Intermediate (requires more insight):
https://www.jpl.nasa.gov/news/nasa-telescope-finds-elusive-buckyballs-in-space-for-first-time/
