In 1992, scientists first recorded natural fullerenes in a shungite sample. What does that discovery mean, and why shouldn't it be overstated?
“A stone that contains fullerenes” is a phrase found in almost every introduction to shungite. So what are fullerenes, who found them in shungite, and what does that discovery actually tell us?
Fullerenes are molecules made only of carbon atoms, arranged as hollow spheres or tubes. The best known is C60 — 60 carbon atoms arranged like a football. Fullerenes were first made in a laboratory in 1985, work that earned the 1996 Nobel Prize in Chemistry.
In 1992, Peter Buseck's team (Arizona State University) reported in Science the discovery of C60 and C70 in a shungite sample from Karelia. It was the first time fullerenes had been recorded in a natural rock sample outside the laboratory — a discovery of real value to geology.
Finding fullerenes in shungite matters to geology, but on its own it proves no healing benefit whatsoever.
What is rarely mentioned is that fullerenes occur only in trace amounts: the measurements cited put them at around 1–10 parts per million. In other words, almost all the carbon in shungite is amorphous carbon, not fullerene.
Think of fullerenes as an interesting detail in shungite's geological story: a 2-billion-year-old rock where people first found this special form of carbon molecule in nature. That alone is a compelling reason to collect and display it.
Shungite is a carbon-rich rock formed about 2 billion years ago in Karelia, Russia. This article sums up its origin, composition and what to know before you buy.
Elite shungite has a silvery sheen and is rare and brittle; regular shungite is matte black, durable and easy to craft. Understand the difference to choose the right piece for you.
The market has its share of dyed stones and black plastic passed off as shungite. Five simple tests — above all the conductivity test — let you check for yourself.