Buckyballs in Space

In 1970, Japanese professor Eiji Osawa predicted the existence of buckyballs.
In 1985, Buckminster Fullerenes were first observed in the laboratory.
In 1996, Sir Harry Kroto, Bob Curl and Rick Smalley shared the Nobel Prize in chemistry for the discovery of buckyballs.
They were named after the architect Buckminster Fuller because they resemble his geodesic domes which have interlocking circles on the surface of a partial sphere. Buckyballs, 60 carbon atoms arranged into a three-dimensional spherical structure resembling a soccer ball, are allotropes of carbon.
Buckyballs have been found on Earth in candle soot, layers of rock and meteorites.

Astronomers using NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope have now discovered buckyballs in space, in a planetary nebula named Tc 1. Planetary nebula are the remains of stars that shed their outer layers of gas and dust as they age. A compact, hot star, or white dwarf, at the centre of the nebula illuminates and heats these clouds of discarded material. The buckyballs were found in these clouds when the astronomers used Spitzer's spectroscopy instrument to analyze infrared light from the planetary nebula and see the spectral signatures of the buckyballs. The data from Spitzer were compared with data from laboratory measurements of the same molecules and showed a perfect match.

Reference:
Jan Cami, Jeronimo Bernard-Salas, Els Peeters, and Sarah Elizabeth Malek. Detection of C₆₀ and C₇₀ in a Young Planetary Nebula. Science, 2010; DOI: 10.1126/science.1192035

Study Questions:

1. What is an allotrope?
2. Name two naturally occurring allotropes of carbon other than buckminster fullerenes.
3. In what ways are these allotropes above the same?
4. In what ways are these allotropes above different?
5. It has been suggested that buckyballs could be used in armour, drug delivery, and, superconductors. What do you think the physical and chemical properties of buckyballs are likely to be?
   
6. Name the other allotrope of oxygen besides (bi)molecular oxygen.
   
7. In what ways are the two allotropes of oxygen the same?
8. In what ways are the two allotropes of oxygen different?
9. There are several allotropes of phosphorus. Discuss the similarities and differences of these allotropes.