File:C60a.png

A 3D model of a en:C60 molecule, also called a "Buckyball". Created by Michael Ströck (mstroeck) on February 6, 2006 in iMol for Mac OS X and Photoshop CS2. Released under the .

Code for generation of the core coordinates:

d=0.140 %double bond 
s=0.146 %single bond = pentagon bond

r=s/2/sin(2*pi/10) %radius of pentagon

phi=(sqrt(5)+1)/2 %golden ratio
p=sqrt(phi^2+1)  %Pythagoras. Somehow I need this often

c_c=r*phi+d/2*p  %Penta center from icosahedron center distance

rota=[phi 0 1  ; 0 p 0 ; 1 0 -phi ] / p  %Rotation from mirror plane to 5 fold axis

figure(1)
plot3(0, 0, 0, '*')
hold on

for i_r3=0:2
    trafo_r3=([0 1 2 ; 1 2 0 ; 2 0 1]==ones(3)*i_r3);
    for i_m2=-1:2:1 %mirror plane (-1)^i
        trafo_m2=trafo_r3*[1 0 0 ; 0 1 0 ; 0 0 i_m2];
        for i_m1=-1:2:1 %mirror plane (-1)^i
            trafo_m1=trafo_m2*[i_m1 0 0 ; 0 1 0 ; 0 0 1];
            for i_p=0:4 %5 fold rotation (i/5*360)
                trafo_p=trafo_m1*rota;
                v=trafo_p*([-cos(2*pi *  (i_p/5))*r ; sin(2*pi *  (i_p/5))*r ; c_c ]);
                plot3( v(1), v(2), v(3), 'o' , 'markersize' , 30 , 'MarkerFaceColor',trafo_r3(1,:) );
            end
        end
    end
end