Legislator Stumps for State Molecule
AUSTIN, Texas — In a state known for its 10-gallon hats, towering oil rigs and large longhorn cattle, a lawmaker wants to designate a tiny state symbol.
Rep. Scott Hochberg is working on a bill to name the buckyball as the state’s official molecule.
The buckyball, a soccer-ball shaped grouping of 60 carbon atoms, is thinner than a human hair but 100 times stronger than steel. It is expected someday to conduct electricity without resistance, deliver medicine into the body and even carry elevators into space.
Two Rice University professors discovered the compound and recently won a Nobel Prize for their efforts.
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