The fifth element, i.e., the quintessence, according to Plato was identified with the dodecahedron. He says simply "God used this solid for the whole universe, embriodering figures on it". So,I suppose it's a good thing that the right triangles comprising this quintessence are incommensurate with those of the other four elements, since we certainly wouldn't want the quintessence of the universe to start transmuting into the baser subtances contained within itself!
Has John Baez gone overboard with the Soccer Ball?:)
Maybe John Baez is right
ReplyDeleteA finite dodecahedral UniverseAccording to the team, who published their study in the 9 October 2003 issue of Nature, an intriguing discrepancy in the temperature fluctuations in the afterglow of the big bang can be explained by a very specific global shape of space (a "topology"). The universe could be wrapped around, a little bit like a "soccer ball", the volume of which would represent only 80% of the observable universe! (figure 1) According to the leading cosmologist George Ellis, from Cape Town University (South Africa), who comments on this work in the "News & Views" section of the same issue: "If confirmed, it is a major discovery about the nature of the universe".http://luth2.obspm.fr/Compress/oct03_lum.en.html
Interesting and taken from posting previous link
ReplyDelete[b] The temperature fluctuations of the Cosmic Background Radiation may be decomposed into a sum of spherical harmonics , much like the sound produced by a music instrument may be decomposed into ordinary harmonics. The "fundamental" fixes the height of the note (as for instance a 440 hertz acouctic frequency fixes the "A" of the pitch), whereas the relative amplitudes of each harmonics determine the tone quality (such as the A played by a piano differs from the A played by a harpsichord). Concerning the relic radiation, the relative amplitudes of each spherical harmonics determine the power spectrum, which is a signature of the geometry of space and of the physical conditions which prevailed at the time of CMB emission.http://luth2.obspm.fr/Compress/oct03_lum.en.html