nature, in its elegance and economy repeats certain forms
TRANSCRIPT
Nature, in its elegance and
economy repeats certain forms.
While nature modifies and adapts these
basic patterns as needed, shaping them to
the demands of the dynamic environment,
underlying all its modifications and
adaptations is a hidden unity in the
diversity of nature.
Patterns are also constantly being created
by simple physical laws.
There are patterns in the sand dunes created by blowing
winds.
There is a pattern in the vortex of a whirlpool
and in the formation of an ice crystal.
Nature invariably seeks the way to
accomplish
the most with the least
the tightest fit
the shortest path
the least energy expended
The recognition of natural patterns is at the heart of both
scientific investigation and
artistic exploration
and, the first step to understanding
the natural world is to see ----- and see clearly
Once you begin to recognize these
fundamental patterns, your view and
understanding of the natural world will
undergo
a subtle,
yet welcome shift.
“Nature is an endless combination and repetition of very few laws.”
Emerson
“Nature never breaks her own laws.”
Da Vinci
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
Sunrise clouds over the Alabama Hills near Lone Pine, California
Meandering streamHayden Valley, Yellowstone National Park, Wyoming
Agave ParryiHuntington Botanical Gardens, San Marino, California
Bunchberry DogwoodAcadia National Park, Maine
Water Lilies on beaver pond near Eagle LakeMount Desert Island, Acadia National Park, Maine
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
An “eggcellent” package
Planet Earth
Other planets in solar system
Growth of tree
Soap bubble
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 patterns
• Lines fan outward from a central point to cover a large area.
Explosive pattern
• Each radiating line in an explosive pattern provides a direct path---
• The shortest possible path ----
• Back to the center of the explosion
Sea star
The curves of life
• Equiangular spiral Archimedes Spiral
Helixes
• 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.
Equiangular spiral
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.
Spiraling leaves of an agave plant
Archimedean Spiral
Each successive whorl is the same width as the one before.
Spirals
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.
•
leaves
Our circulatory system:arteries and veins
River paTTerNS
Erosion paTTerNS
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
Columbia Plateau Basalt
Hexagonal symmetry of snowflakes
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.
M.C. ESCHERtesselations
Nature, in its elegance and
economy repeats certain forms.
While nature modifies and adapts these
basic patterns as needed, shaping them to
the demands of the dynamic environment,
Nature invariably seeks the way to
accomplish
the most with the least
the tightest fit
the shortest path
the least energy expended
Once you begin to recognize these
fundamental patterns, your view and
understanding of the natural world will
undergo
a subtle,
yet welcome shift.
Search for pattern is fundamental to both art and science
• Rhythms of language caught in the cadence of a poem
• patterns of human interaction in a novel
• the physicist's equation can be likened to a poet’s sonnet