Purpose: to make testable quantities of carbon 60 testing the effects of varying pressure and power current. Materials: Bell Jar (approx. 18in) and base plate Power apparatus (must provide 200 amps at about 200 volts) 200-mm by 25-mm diameter Quartz tubing Porcelain tubing Vacuum pump Carbon rods 1/4 in diameter Flexible braided wire Blast shield Helium Tank Several circular hosing clamps Three-way valve Airtight high voltage electrodes and insulators (must withstand over 200 amps) Rubber hose Ring stand Clamps Rod connectors dichlorobenzene flasks dropper funnel toluene column beakers filter paper Procedure: Setup Apparatus 1. If there are not holes drilled into the base plate drill them to fit the electrodes. 2. Attach the wires form the electrodes on the bottom of the base plate to the power source. (make sure your power source is off and disconnected form its source if this is not possible do not attach the wires yet) 3. Take the ring stand and attach three clamps to it. 4. Then attach the middle clamp to the middle of the quartz tubing. 5. Slide the bottom carbon rod inside the quartz tubing and set it on the electrode and secure it with the lower clamp. (make sure the carbon rod is stable and will not move during the run) 6. Slide the other carbon rod inside the top of the quartz tubing and secure the rod using the third clamp. (make sure the carbon rods are perfectly lined up and only a few millimeters apart) 7. Attach one end of the braided wire form the inside of the electrode not being used and the other end to the end of the top carbon rod. 8. Place the bell jar over the set up and make sure everything fits, if not cut down the rods and tubing to fit. 9. Attach a three way valve to the bell jar to the other ends of the valve attach the hose to the Helium tank and the hose to the vacuum pump. 10. If not done in earlier steps attach the braided wires going form the power source to the base electrodes. 11. Run the pump and make sure you have a secure seal. If not find the leak and use vacuum grease to seal any leaks. (the pressure must hold steady) Note: if any signs of cracking of the bell jar are noticed cut the pump off immediately do not use a faulty jar. Synthesis: Note: keep set up behind blast shield while being run. While carbon rods are burning be sure to wear welding goggles. Run 1: 1. Make sure the steps in the above section are all complete and that the carbon rods are lined up. 2. Apply vacuum grease to the bottom of the bell jar and set it on the base. 3. Evacuate the bell jar and add 100 torr of Helium to the bell jar. (make sure the pressure gage holds steady) 4. Place the power settings to 200Amps and turn the power source on. 5. Keep the power on for 15 seconds and then cut the power off. 6. Allow at least 15 minutes to cool down. Note: use good judgment, make sure the bell jar has cooled to remove safely. Also if you feel the power source should be turned off before the 15 seconds follow you instincts and do it. 7. Turn the power back on, after the apparatus has cooled down, for 15 seconds then turn if off. 8. Allow the apparatus to cool off again. 9. Allow the process of burning and cooling to continue until the carbon rods are almost completely burned. 10. Once the extent of the carbon rods have been burned allow the apparatus to cool completely. 11. Remove the bell jar and using a natural fiber brush, such as camel hair, carefully remove the soot onto a piece of paper. Note: The soot can be a respiratory and skin irritant so you may want to wear gloves and face mask. 12. Put the soot into a test tube and seal it with a rubber stopper until the extraction. Label this sample "sample 1." Run 2: 1. Insert new carbon rods into the apparatus 2. Apply vacuum grease to the bottom of the bell jar and place the bell jar on the base. 2. Evacuate the bell jar and add 200 torr of Helium to the bell jar. (make sure the pressure gage holds steady) 4. Place the power setting to 150Amps and turn the power source on. 5. Keep the power on for 15 seconds and then cut the power off. 6. Allow at least 15 minutes to cool down. 7. Repeat steps 7-11 of Run 1. 8. Put the soot into a test tube and seal it with a rubber stopper until the extraction. Label this sample "sample 2." Run 3: 1. Repeat steps 1-3 of Run 2. 2. Place the power setting at 100Amps. 3. Repeat steps 5-7 of Run 2. 3. Put the soot into a test tube and seal it with a rubber stopper until the extraction. Label this sample "sample 3." Note: If a stable electric arc does not form at this power level then turn the power up to 125Amps. If this still does not work omit this step. Run 4: 1. Repeat Run 1 except this time change the pressure of helium to 150 Torr. Label this sample "sample 4." 2. Repeat Run 2 except this time change the pressure of helium to 150 Torr. Label this sample "sample 5." 3. Repeat Run 3 except this time change the pressure of helium to 150 Torr. Label this sample "sample 6." Run 5: 1. Repeat Run 1 except this time change the pressure of helium to 200 Torr. Label this sample "sample 7." 2. Repeat Run 2 except this time change the pressure of helium to 200 Torr. Label this sample "sample 8." 3. Repeat Run 3 except this time change the pressure of helium to 200 Torr. Label this sample "sample 9." Isolation: 1. Place the first sample into a small flask containing 20-30 ml of toluene and stopper the flask. Shake gently. 2. Place a piece of filter paper over another flask and pour the toluene soot mixture into the filter. (this should separate the fullerenes form the soot, the color may change) 3. Fill a column with the filtered soot. 4. Add some toluene and allow the solvent to drip out of the bottom into a flask. 5. Continue this until the level of the solvent falls to the height of the carbon granules. 6. Add 30 - 40 mg of soot extracted fullerene mixture to about 50 ml of toluene to a flask. 7. Stopper the flask and shake gently for about 20 seconds. (you should get a deep red solution) 8. Pour the solution into a dropper flask. 9. Connect the dropper flask to the top of the column. 10. Open all the taps and collect the drops in a clean flask. 11. Then collect the drops from the column. 12. Every couple of minutes pour the collected solvent into a waist bottle. 13. When the color of the solvent starts to change, collect all the solvent in the same flask. 14. Eventually the level of the red fullerene mixture will fall below the carbon granules. 15. When this happens turn all the taps off. 16. Refill the dropper funnel with fresh toluene. 17. Then open all the taps back up and continue collecting the fractions. 18. Then you must wait 20 to 30 minutes, the red color of pure C60 will appear and should continue for a further 20 minutes or so. 19. When the color disappears from the solvent allow the remaining toluene to fall to the carbon granule line. 20. Then add dichlorobenzene to the dropper flask. 21. Continue collecting fractions using another flask. 22. After a while the red C70 fraction will appear. 23. You have now successfully separated C60 and C70 from the fullerene mixture. Repeat steps 1-23 for each sample.