Round Triangles!
Why circles are round (and triangles too!) rotor in a square hole: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KUeQugasOkk more info on reuleaux rotors and other SWEET stuff: http://www.howround.com...
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It makes intuitive sense that objects like circles and spheres are round - but what isit about a sphere that makes it round? If you're talking about how effective a shapeis at enclosing a large volume, you mean "sphericity". And a sphere is the shape that contains themost volume with the least surface area, that is, a sphere is the most "spherical" shape.But roundness has more to do with rolling than with volume, right? A round object canroll smoothly - like a wheel or ball bearing. And the main feature that ball bearings needin order to roll smoothly is to be the same width from bottom to top/one side to the other.It turns out there are plenty of non-circular 'shapes of constant width' that are excellentbearings a...
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It makes intuitive sense that objects like circles and spheres are round - but what isit about a sphere that makes it round? If you're talking about how effective a shapeis at enclosing a large volume, you mean "sphericity". And a sphere is the shape that contains themost volume with the least surface area, that is, a sphere is the most "spherical" shape.But roundness has more to do with rolling than with volume, right? A round object canroll smoothly - like a wheel or ball bearing. And the main feature that ball bearings needin order to roll smoothly is to be the same width from bottom to top/one side to the other.It turns out there are plenty of non-circular 'shapes of constant width' that are excellentbearings a...
