Platonic Solids: Finding Perfect Bodies in Nature
Finding Platonic Solids (perfect bodies) in nature was for me an exercise in creative thinking. How early philosophers like Plato came to theorise about them still mystifies me. Still I did find examples of perfect bodies in chemistry, mineralogy and biology.
In chemistry, many chemicals form covalent bonds in the form of the tetrahedron. These bonds have a base atom surrounded by four others. One example of this bond is methane (marsh gas). Because tetrahedrons abound so much in chemistry, chemists have named one of their periodicals “Tetrahedron”.
In mineralogy, crystals are divided into seven systems. Each system is derived from how the imaginary axis of a crystal intersects with its center. The length of the axis and the angles determine the “perfect” shape of each crystal. The Isometric Crystal System contains crystals with the highest degree of symmetry. Platonic Solids formed by these crystals are the hexahedron, octahedron, and dodecahedron.
Within viruses, the proteins of animal and plant species will stabilise into icosahedrons. With only a minimum of free energy, a protein can easily bond into a triangle. The most stable and energy efficient form for these viruses is the icosahedron.
TETRAHEDRON
Methane
CH4
Discovered in 1776 by Alessandro Volta, methane became known as marsh gas. Since then, methane was found to be the principle component of natural gas as well. Besides being abundant in the earth’s crust and on various planets, methane is also continually being created by landfills and cows.
Since methane violently reacts with oxidizers, it is dangerous in closed spaces. Highly flammable, methane will explode. Because this gas displaces oxygen, methane will also asphyxiate any living thing nearby. Moreover, its green house properties are problematic. Methane has a warming potential of 25 (averaged over 100 years), which means that this gas traps heat at a higher rate than CO2.
HEXADEDRON
Fluorite
Composition: CaF2 (calcium fluoride)
Hardness: 4
Colours: purple, blue, green, yellow, clear
Formed when a mineral vein come into contact with hot water, fluorite is often found in deposits of silver, tin, and lead. Since this crystal comes in many colours, fluorite was formerly used as an ornamental stone. Because this crystal melts easily at low temperatures, it now has many industrial uses. Since fluorite emits different colours when light is shone through it, fluorescent lights replaced incandescent lights in many modern offices.
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