Buckytubes
In 1991 Sumio Iijima discovered buckytubes. He discovered them while examining buckyballs. He noticed the walls of the tube consist of carbon atoms arranged in hexagonal patterns with one pentagon to cork each end. Capping of the tube requires that the walls bend in a 3-dimensional manner and this is achieved by the incorporation of 5-member rings in the carbon framework. Buckytubes are super fine filaments made of hexagonal ``chicken wire'' carbon mesh. Both buckytubes and buckyballs are from carbon, however, as the “balls” form, they incorporate the six and five sided carbons throughout the “ball”. As the “tube” rolls up, it usually only incorporates the five-sided carbon at the ends of the tube. However, having said that, the tube can be “encouraged” to incorporate the five-sided carbon elsewhere in the tube as well, and this considerably changes the tube’s abilities and properties.