(a) What is buckminsterfullerene? How is it related to diamond and graphite?
(b) Why is diamond used for making cutting tools (like glass cutters) but graphite is not?
(c) Why is graphite used for making dry cell electrodes but diamond is not?
(a) Buckminsterfullerene is an allotrope of carbon containing clusters of 60 carbon atoms joined together to form spherical molecules. It burns on heating to form carbon dioxide and nothing is left behind. This shows that it is made up of carbon only like diamond and graphite.
(b) Diamond used for making cutting tools but graphite is not because diamond is a very hard substance and graphite is a soft substance.
(c) Graphite is used for making dry cell electrodes but diamond is not because graphite is a good conductor of electricity whereas diamond is a bad conductor of electricity.