Buckyballs Everywhere

3. The Buckyball Asteroid

Buckyballs Everywhere

Interest in the truncated icosahedron (buckyball as a molecule) dates back to Archimedes, a Greek mathematician and inventor who lived in the third century B.C. Others probably conceived of the truncated icosahedron even earlier. In fact, objects based on this shape show up in many cultures throughout the world.

Sepak raga, a popular game in Southeast Asia, uses a woven ball that looks similar to a soccer ball.

Woven ball used for the game sepak raga.

In Mozambique, Zaire, Brazil, and many other countries, local artists weave baskets in patterns with regular hexagonal holes. To turn a flat hexagonal weave into a curved basket shape, the weaver performs a mathematical trick: By reducing the number of strands, they make certain holes pentagonal instead of hexagonal.

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