Honey Combs
Why do honey bees create hexagonal shapes for Honey Comb ? Why don't they build cylinders or prisms with triangle or square or other cross sections?
Labels: outside-the-box, thinktank
posted by Rajesh Lal at
12:45 PM
11 Comments:
a hexagonal structure uses the least material
and i think it would also be the strongest... or that might be the triangle
Natural selection. It doesn't matter exactly why but it is reassuring to know that the hexagon is a most suitable choice.
i dont know, but it might be because they can fit into something that is rounder, but they want a more stable structure too, a hexagon fits both of those.
a complete circle would be easier to do what they need to do, but less stable. wheras a triangle is the most stable, but most of the space inside would be near the corners which is a tight space.
~Ghostrider655
Not only is the hexagon meant to maximize space with less material and support the weight of the honey but it also is the result of the individual bees forming the cells. It's kinda like when you blow bubbles, and you get a cluster, how they form into a similar shape. Well that is my humble opinion.
Obviously, the configuration is evolutionally optimized. The question is what is it optimized for and why is this optimal.
The comb must fill a plane (i.e. no space waste) and it is optimal to use the least amount of wax to build it. Cells must all be the same shape, so they are easy to manage.
Circles will not fill a plane without wasted space (or wax). The only regular polygon tilings possible are triangles, squares and hexagons (see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tilings_of_regular_polygons). For a given perimeter, for instance, 6, a triangle has area of about 1.7, a square of 2.25 and a hex of 3.5. Therefore a hex provides the best performance in terms of space for a given perimeter (i.e. wax expendature). This is also intuitive, since a hexagon is closest in shape to a circle.
I wasn't saying that circles are effecient. I was giving you an example. When you have a cluster of bubbles that are stuck together and you look closely they for a hexagon type pattern naturally. The individual bees when making their comb and drop their honey has the same principal. It's not a molded piece of perfection in that they are making the comb, it's the pressure of the honey pushing against the wax that gives it it's shape. With a 3 dimensional comb when they drop the beads of honey it it it spreads the pressure evenly giving it it's perfection. So to speak.
I say hexagons are the most efficient because of strength and space its like a cube(the space but not much structure + circle same thing but the space used in the hive is wasted+ triangle strength but the space put into it = hexagon meanin the best choice
a hexagone is the most efficient way to cover a large area with the least amount of material... mother nature is lazy.
A hexagon makes a tessalation, and is the closest to a circle
Cause it looks pertty...
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