Plato's cube and the natural geometry of fragmentation

DOI10.1073/PNAS.2001037117MaRDI QIDQ5073115zbMATH OpenOpenAlexWikidataFDO

Authors Douglas J. Jerolmack, János Török, Gábor Domokos

Publication date 5 May 2022

Published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (Search for Journal in Brave)

Copyright license Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International

Full work available at URL https://arxiv.org/abs/1912.04628

Mathematics Subject Classification ID

Geometric probability and stochastic geometry (60D05) Tilings in (2) dimensions (aspects of discrete geometry) (52C20) Tilings in (n) dimensions (aspects of discrete geometry) (52C22) High-velocity fracture (74R15)

Abstract: Plato envisioned Earth's building blocks as cubes, a shape rarely found in nature. The solar system is littered, however, with distorted polyhedra -- shards of rock and ice produced by ubiquitous fragmentation. We apply the theory of convex mosaics to show that the average geometry of natural 2D fragments, from mud cracks to Earth's tectonic plates, has two attractors: "Platonic" quadrangles and "Voronoi" hexagons. In 3D the Platonic attractor is dominant: remarkably, the average shape of natural rock fragments is cuboid. When viewed through the lens of convex mosaics, natural fragments are indeed geometric shadows of Plato's forms. Simulations show that generic binary breakup drives all mosaics toward the Platonic attractor, explaining the ubiquity of cuboid averages. Deviations from binary fracture produce more exotic patterns that are genetically linked to the formative stress field. We compute the universal pattern generator establishing this link, for 2D and 3D fragmentation.

Recommendations

• A universe of projections: may Plato be right?
• Geometry and topology of fracture systems
• On Plato's ``Fairest triangles (Timaeus 54a)
• It’s a World Made of Triangles: Plato’s Timaeus 53B–55C
• Solid modeling aspects of three-dimensional fragmentation

Cites work

• scientific article; zbMATH DE number 480659 (Why is no real title available?)
• scientific article; zbMATH DE number 866040 (Why is no real title available?)
• Fast parallel algorithms for short-range molecular dynamics
• Geophysical imaging reveals topographic stress control of bedrock weathering
• Stochastic and Integral Geometry
• Study on the fragmentation of shells
• THE ISOPERIMETRIC QUOTIENT OF A CONVEX BODY DECREASES MONOTONICALLY UNDER THE EIKONAL ABRASION MODEL

Cited in

(6)

• The mystery of ten wooden blocks: Hjelmslev's geometry of reality
• On the cracking patterns of brittle rings with elastic radial support under hydrostatic pressure
• On an abrasion-motivated fractal model
• A two-vertex theorem for normal tilings
• An evolution model for polygonal tessellations as models for crack networks and other natural patterns
• Balancing polyhedra

This page was built for publication: Plato's cube and the natural geometry of fragmentation

Report a bug (only for logged in users!)Click here to report a bug for this page (MaRDI item Q5073115)