The Notebook

Straw and pipecleaner truncated icosahedron

A truncated icosahedron is an Archemedian Solid. I don't know what that means.

I do know that an icosahedron is the shape a 20-sided die is made in, and that each face is an equilateral triangle and 5 triangles meet at each point. When you cut those points off, you get a mess of pentagons and hexagons that equals a "truncated icosahedron." But if you want a familiar name for it, it's a soccer ball. Have you ever noticed that each hexagon on a soccer ball has three pentagons and three hexagons bordering it? And that each pentagon has five hexagons bordering it?

I will post on "why" I'm doing this later... there will be cool pictures! But for now I am exploring another property of the structure. Every edge on the structure is exactly the same length. So I have cut 60 2" sections of straw and I am weaving them together with pipe cleaners. (Originally, I made 60 three pointed joints as well, but they didn't fit the straws with enough tension to actually "hang on" and the thing collapsed.



Here's the weaving in progress. (Yes, everything in the house is a kitty toy. Especially new things.)


Here's the finished product:

posted by Anne @ 9:15 AM