Rhombohedron

Last updated
Rhombohedron
Rhombohedron.svg
Type prism
Faces6 rhombi
Edges12
Vertices8
Symmetry group Ci , [2+,2+], (×), order 2
Properties convex, equilateral, zonohedron, parallelohedron

In geometry, a rhombohedron (also called a rhombic hexahedron [1] [2] or, inaccurately, a rhomboid [lower-alpha 1] ) is a special case of a parallelepiped in which all six faces are congruent rhombi. [3] It can be used to define the rhombohedral lattice system, a honeycomb with rhombohedral cells. A cube is a special case of a rhombohedron with all sides square.

Contents

The rhombohedron has two opposite vertices at which all angles are equal. If this angle us acute then the rhombohedron is long and thin (prolate), if obtuse then it is low and wide (oblate).

Special cases

The common angle at the two apices is here given as . There are two general forms of the rhombohedron, oblate (flattened) and prolate (stretched.

Rhombohedron-oblate.svg Prolate rhombohedron.svg
Oblate rhombohedronProlate rhombohedron

In the oblate case and in the prolate case . For the figure is a cube.

Certain proportions of the rhombs give rise to some well-known special cases. These typically occur in both prolate and oblate forms.

Form Cube √2 RhombohedronGolden Rhombohedron
Angle
constraints
Ratio of diagonals1√2 Golden ratio
Occurrence Regular solid Dissection of the rhombic dodecahedron Dissection of the rhombic triacontahedron

Solid geometry

For a unit (i.e.: with side length 1) rhombohedron, [4] with rhombic acute angle , with one vertex at the origin (0, 0, 0), and with one edge lying along the x-axis, the three generating vectors are

e1 :
e2 :
e3 :

The other coordinates can be obtained from vector addition [5] of the 3 direction vectors: e1 + e2 , e1 + e3 , e2 + e3 , and e1 + e2 + e3 .

The volume of a rhombohedron, in terms of its side length and its rhombic acute angle , is a simplification of the volume of a parallelepiped, and is given by

We can express the volume another way :

As the area of the (rhombic) base is given by , and as the height of a rhombohedron is given by its volume divided by the area of its base, the height of a rhombohedron in terms of its side length and its rhombic acute angle is given by

Note:

3 , where 3 is the third coordinate of e3 .

The body diagonal between the acute-angled vertices is the longest. By rotational symmetry about that diagonal, the other three body diagonals, between the three pairs of opposite obtuse-angled vertices, are all the same length.

Relation to orthocentric tetrahedra

Four points forming non-adjacent vertices of a rhombohedron necessarily form the four vertices of an orthocentric tetrahedron, and all orthocentric tetrahedra can be formed in this way. [6]

Rhombohedral lattice

The rhombohedral lattice system has rhombohedral cells, with 6 congruent rhombic faces forming a trigonal trapezohedron [ citation needed ]:

Rhombohedral.svg

See also

Notes

  1. More accurately, rhomboid is a two-dimensional figure.

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ellipse</span> Plane curve: conic section

In mathematics, an ellipse is a plane curve surrounding two focal points, such that for all points on the curve, the sum of the two distances to the focal points is a constant. It generalizes a circle, which is the special type of ellipse in which the two focal points are the same. The elongation of an ellipse is measured by its eccentricity , a number ranging from to .

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Parallelepiped</span> Hexahedron with parallelogram faces

In geometry, a parallelepiped is a three-dimensional figure formed by six parallelograms. By analogy, it relates to a parallelogram just as a cube relates to a square.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ellipsoid</span> Quadric surface that looks like a deformed sphere

An ellipsoid is a surface that can be obtained from a sphere by deforming it by means of directional scalings, or more generally, of an affine transformation.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Rhombus</span> Quadrilateral with sides of equal length

In plane Euclidean geometry, a rhombus is a quadrilateral whose four sides all have the same length. Another name is equilateral quadrilateral, since equilateral means that all of its sides are equal in length. The rhombus is often called a "diamond", after the diamonds suit in playing cards which resembles the projection of an octahedral diamond, or a lozenge, though the former sometimes refers specifically to a rhombus with a 60° angle, and the latter sometimes refers specifically to a rhombus with a 45° angle.

In linear algebra, two vectors in an inner product space are orthonormal if they are orthogonal unit vectors. A unit vector means that the vector has a length of 1, which is also known as normalized. Orthogonal means that the vectors are all perpendicular to each other. A set of vectors form an orthonormal set if all vectors in the set are mutually orthogonal and all of unit length. An orthonormal set which forms a basis is called an orthonormal basis.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Thales's theorem</span> Angle formed by a point on a circle and the 2 ends of a diameter is a right angle

In geometry, Thales's theorem states that if A, B, and C are distinct points on a circle where the line AC is a diameter, the angle ABC is a right angle. Thales's theorem is a special case of the inscribed angle theorem and is mentioned and proved as part of the 31st proposition in the third book of Euclid's Elements. It is generally attributed to Thales of Miletus, but it is sometimes attributed to Pythagoras.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Disk (mathematics)</span> Plane figure, bounded by circle

In geometry, a disk is the region in a plane bounded by a circle. A disk is said to be closed if it contains the circle that constitutes its boundary, and open if it does not.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Theta function</span> Special functions of several complex variables

In mathematics, theta functions are special functions of several complex variables. They show up in many topics, including Abelian varieties, moduli spaces, quadratic forms, and solitons. As Grassmann algebras, they appear in quantum field theory.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Catalan solid</span> 13 polyhedra; duals of the Archimedean solids

In mathematics, a Catalan solid, or Archimedean dual, is a polyhedron that is dual to an Archimedean solid. There are 13 Catalan solids. They are named after the Belgian mathematician Eugène Catalan, who first described them in 1865.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Disdyakis dodecahedron</span> Geometric shape with 48 faces

In geometry, a disdyakis dodecahedron,, is a Catalan solid with 48 faces and the dual to the Archimedean truncated cuboctahedron. As such it is face-transitive but with irregular face polygons. It resembles an augmented rhombic dodecahedron. Replacing each face of the rhombic dodecahedron with a flat pyramid creates a polyhedron that looks almost like the disdyakis dodecahedron, and is topologically equivalent to it.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Disdyakis triacontahedron</span> Catalan solid with 120 faces

In geometry, a disdyakis triacontahedron, hexakis icosahedron, decakis dodecahedron or kisrhombic triacontahedron is a Catalan solid with 120 faces and the dual to the Archimedean truncated icosidodecahedron. As such it is face-uniform but with irregular face polygons. It slightly resembles an inflated rhombic triacontahedron: if one replaces each face of the rhombic triacontahedron with a single vertex and four triangles in a regular fashion, one ends up with a disdyakis triacontahedron. That is, the disdyakis triacontahedron is the Kleetope of the rhombic triacontahedron. It is also the barycentric subdivision of the regular dodecahedron and icosahedron. It has the most faces among the Archimedean and Catalan solids, with the snub dodecahedron, with 92 faces, in second place.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ptolemy's theorem</span> Relates the 4 sides and 2 diagonals of a quadrilateral with vertices on a common circle

In Euclidean geometry, Ptolemy's theorem is a relation between the four sides and two diagonals of a cyclic quadrilateral. The theorem is named after the Greek astronomer and mathematician Ptolemy. Ptolemy used the theorem as an aid to creating his table of chords, a trigonometric table that he applied to astronomy.

In physics, the Green's function for the Laplacian in three variables is used to describe the response of a particular type of physical system to a point source. In particular, this Green's function arises in systems that can be described by Poisson's equation, a partial differential equation (PDE) of the form

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lateral earth pressure</span> Pressure of soil in horizontal direction

The lateral earth pressure is the pressure that soil exerts in the horizontal direction. It is important because it affects the consolidation behavior and strength of the soil and because it is considered in the design of geotechnical engineering structures such as retaining walls, basements, tunnels, deep foundations and braced excavations.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Compound of twenty octahedra with rotational freedom</span> Polyhedral compound

The compound of twenty octahedra with rotational freedom is a uniform polyhedron compound. It's composed of a symmetric arrangement of 20 octahedra, considered as triangular antiprisms. It can be constructed by superimposing two copies of the compound of 10 octahedra UC16, and for each resulting pair of octahedra, rotating each octahedron in the pair by an equal and opposite angle θ.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Exact trigonometric values</span> Trigonometric numbers in terms of square roots

In mathematics, the values of the trigonometric functions can be expressed approximately, as in , or exactly, as in . While trigonometric tables contain many approximate values, the exact values for certain angles can be expressed by a combination of arithmetic operations and square roots. The angles with trigonometric values that are expressible in this way are exactly those that can be constructed with a compass and straight edge, and the values are called constructible numbers.

The direct-quadrature-zerotransformation or zero-direct-quadraturetransformation is a tensor that rotates the reference frame of a three-element vector or a three-by-three element matrix in an effort to simplify analysis. The DQZ transform is the product of the Clarke transform and the Park transform, first proposed in 1929 by Robert H. Park.

In fluid mechanics, flows in closed conduits are usually encountered in places such as drains and sewers where the liquid flows continuously in the closed channel and the channel is filled only up to a certain depth. Typical examples of such flows are flow in circular and Δ shaped channels.

Bimaximal mixing refers to a proposed form of the lepton mixing matrix. It is characterized by the neutrino being a bimaximal mixture of and and being completely decoupled from the , i.e. a uniform mixture of and . The is consequently a uniform mixture of and . Other notable properties are the symmetries between the and flavours and and mass eigenstates and an absence of CP violation. The moduli squared of the matrix elements have to be:

References

  1. Miller, William A. (January 1989). "Maths Resource: Rhombic Dodecahedra Puzzles". Mathematics in School. 18 (1): 18–24. JSTOR   30214564.
  2. Inchbald, Guy (July 1997). "The Archimedean honeycomb duals". The Mathematical Gazette. 81 (491): 213–219. doi:10.2307/3619198. JSTOR   3619198.
  3. Coxeter, HSM. Regular Polytopes. Third Edition. Dover. p.26.
  4. Lines, L (1965). Solid geometry: with chapters on space-lattices, sphere-packs and crystals. Dover Publications.
  5. "Vector Addition". Wolfram. 17 May 2016. Retrieved 17 May 2016.
  6. Court, N. A. (October 1934), "Notes on the orthocentric tetrahedron", American Mathematical Monthly , 41 (8): 499–502, doi:10.2307/2300415, JSTOR   2300415 .