This New Pyramid-Like Shape Always Lands With the Same Side Up
1 min read
Summary
In 360 BC, Plato’s cosmological theory envisioned the world as a collection of five shapes known as polyhedra, which have now become objects of intense mathematical study.
One of the simplest of these five objects, the tetrahedron, is still the subject of mystery and debate, even though it has just four triangular sides.
For instance, no one knew whether a tetrahedron could be constructed with even weight distribution so that it could balance on just one of its faces, a property known as “monostability.”
Gábor Domokos and colleagues prove that such a shape not only could exist, but they created a real, working model after years of effort.
The tetrahedron was fashioned out of lightweight carbon fibre and dense tungsten carbide, and it flips to one side every time, consistent with theoretical predictions.
Work like this demonstrates the value of experimentation in research mathematics.