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While nature modifies and adapts these
basic patterns as needed, shaping them to
the demands of the dynamic environment,
The recognition of natural patterns is at the heart of both
scientific investigation and
artistic exploration
Once you begin to recognize these
fundamental patterns, your view and
understanding of the natural world will
undergo
Cedars with Fresh SnowYosemite National Park, CA
Moon flower
Loxahatchee National Wildlife Refuge, Florida
Lupine leaves in the FallCascade Falls, CA
Cactus thornsHuntington Library Botanical Gardens, San Marino,
California
Lichens on RockMerced River, Yosemite Valley, Yosemite National Park,
California
SucculentsHuntington Botanical Gardens, San Marion, CA
Introductory thoughts are from
By Nature’s Design
Text by Pat Murphy
Photographs by William O’Neil
An Exploratorium Book
Goals
1. Deepen our awareness and recognition of basic patterns in nature
a. curves of lifeb. patterns of flowc. spheres and explosionsd. branchinge. packing and crackingf. fractals
Goals
2. Appreciate elegance, beauty and unity of patterns in nature
3. Instill subtle shift in our way of “seeing” and experiencing
4. Initiate and encourage others to observe and appreciate basic patterns in nature
Spheres, Explosions: Patterns of Perfection
To ancient Greeks, the circle and the three-dimensional sphere, were perfect symbols of the divine.
• Let’s consider the importance of spheres and circles in nature.
• A sphere and circle have the smallest possible surface area for its volume.
You begin your life as a spherical egg
A fertilized egg at high magnificationMale and female genetic material (DNA) is in the 2 pronuclei (circles) in the centerA polar body is seen at one o'clock - just under the shell
Spherical soap bubble forms because
the inward pull of elastic bubble film is opposed by the outward push of air inside the bubble.
The balance between the two forces creates a sphere
The most space for the air with the least stretching of the bubble film.
Many animals curl up to keep warm and for self defense, presenting the smallest possible surface area from
their potential predators.
Explosive pattern
• Each radiating line in an explosive pattern provides a direct path---
• The shortest possible path ----
• Back to the center of the explosion
• In the growth of a shell we can conceive no simpler law than this, namely that it shall widen and lengthen in the same unvarying proportions: and this simplest of laws is that which Nature tends to follow.
• The shell, like the creature within it, grows in size but does not change its shape; and the existence of this constant relativity of growth, or constant similarity of form, is of the essence. and may be made the basis of a definition, of the equiangular spiral.
As noted by D'Arcy Thompson (1961, 179)
The reason it is call equiangular is because the angle it makes with each radial line is the same angle.
The florets of the sunflower and daisy,the scales of a pinecone,
like the chambers of the nautilus, increase in size with
their distance from the center.
Helixes
A spiral where any point of the spiral is exactly the same distance to the center
of it in respect to other parts of the spiral.
MICA
a photograph of mica which has threads of iron ore between the layers of mica: these darker lines highlight the hexagonal structure of the mica
A crystal is a material for which the molecules inside are all lined up in a specific way called the crystal lattice.
The water molecules in ice form a hexagonal lattice as shown above (two views of the same thing).
Each red ball represents an oxygen atom, and the grey sticks represent hydrogen atoms.
There are two hydrogen for each oxygen, making the usual H2O.
While nature modifies and adapts these
basic patterns as needed, shaping them to
the demands of the dynamic environment,
Once you begin to recognize these
fundamental patterns, your view and
understanding of the natural world will
undergo