Platonic solids model made from a kit, 2007

Nested Platonic solids made by Geoffrey Child from a Zometool Nested Platonic solids in Zometool

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Creative Commons LicenseThis image is released under a CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 Licence

Buy this image as a print 

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License this image for commercial use at Science and Society Picture Library

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Nested Platonic solids made by Geoffrey Child from a Zometool
Science Museum Group
© The Board of Trustees of the Science Museum

Nested Platonic solids in Zometool
Science Museum Group Collection
© The Board of Trustees of the Science Museum

Nested Platonic solids made by Geoffrey Child from a Zometool plastic construction kit

Like Kepler, Child was interested in nesting the Platonic solids. Instead of relating them to the orbits of the planets, he was looking for the most efficient way of arranging them in space. He started with two interpenetrating tetrahedra in green at the centre, which form a stella octagonal. The vertices of this are also the vertices of the cube in blue. This cube sits inside the icosahedron in blue, which is connected to the blue dodecahedron by yellow struts. The model is made in Zometool, a highly sophisticated mathematical construction kit developed from 1992.

Details

Category:
Mathematics
Object Number:
2007-15
Materials:
plastic
Measurements:
overall: 230 mm, .25kg
type:
platonic solids model
credit:
Child, Geoffrey