Which molecule is famously shaped like a soccer ball and contains 60 carbon atoms?

The molecule famously shaped like a soccer ball and containing 60 carbon atoms is buckminsterfullerene.

Buckminsterfullerene, also called buckyball, has the molecular formula C₆₀. Its carbon atoms form a closed cage made of 12 pentagons and 20 hexagons, giving it the geometry of a truncated icosahedron. The structure resembles a traditional soccer ball, although the molecule is far smaller than any visible object.

Researchers discovered C₆₀ in 1985 while studying carbon clusters produced by vaporizing graphite. The molecule was named for architect and inventor Buckminster Fuller because its cage structure resembles the geodesic domes associated with his work. The discovery helped establish fullerenes as a major family of carbon allotropes.

Buckminsterfullerene is not the same as graphene or diamond. Graphene is a flat sheet of carbon atoms, while diamond is a three-dimensional network. C₆₀ is a discrete molecular cage, and its unusual electronic and structural properties have driven research in nanoscience.