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Concept
Square antiprism
Summary
In geometry, the square antiprism is the second in an infinite family of antiprisms formed by an even-numbered sequence of triangle sides closed by two polygon caps. It is also known as an anticube.
If all its faces are regular, it is a semiregular polyhedron or uniform polyhedron.
A nonuniform D4-symmetric variant is the cell of the noble square antiprismatic 72-cell.
When eight points are distributed on the surface of a sphere with the aim of maximising the distance between them in some sense, the resulting shape corresponds to a square antiprism rather than a cube. Specific methods of distributing the points include, for example, the Thomson problem (minimizing the sum of all the reciprocals of distances between points), maximising the distance of each point to the nearest point, or minimising the sum of all reciprocals of squares of distances between points.
Square antiprismatic molecular geometry
According to the VSEPR theory of molecular geometry in chemistry, which is based on the general principle of maximizing the distances between points, a square antiprism is the favoured geometry when eight pairs of electrons surround a central atom. One molecule with this geometry is the octafluoroxenate(VI) ion (XeF82-) in the salt nitrosonium octafluoroxenate(VI); however, the molecule is distorted away from the idealized square antiprism. Very few ions are cubical because such a shape would cause large repulsion between ligands; PaF83- is one of the few examples.
In addition, the element sulfur forms octatomic S8 molecules as its most stable allotrope. The S8 molecule has a structure based on the square antiprism, in which the eight atoms occupy the eight vertices of the antiprism, and the eight triangle-triangle edges of the antiprism correspond to single covalent bonds between sulfur atoms.
The main building block of the One World Trade Center (at the site of the old World Trade Center destroyed on September 11, 2001) has the shape of an extremely tall tapering square antiprism.
Official source
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