Cupola (geometry)In geometry, a cupola is a solid formed by joining two polygons, one (the base) with twice as many edges as the other, by an alternating band of isosceles triangles and rectangles. If the triangles are equilateral and the rectangles are squares, while the base and its opposite face are regular polygons, the triangular, square, and pentagonal cupolae all count among the Johnson solids, and can be formed by taking sections of the cuboctahedron, rhombicuboctahedron, and rhombicosidodecahedron, respectively.
Close-packing of equal spheresIn geometry, close-packing of equal spheres is a dense arrangement of congruent spheres in an infinite, regular arrangement (or lattice). Carl Friedrich Gauss proved that the highest average density – that is, the greatest fraction of space occupied by spheres – that can be achieved by a lattice packing is The same packing density can also be achieved by alternate stackings of the same close-packed planes of spheres, including structures that are aperiodic in the stacking direction.
Elongated square gyrobicupolaIn geometry, the elongated square gyrobicupola or pseudo-rhombicuboctahedron is one of the Johnson solids (J_37). It is not usually considered to be an Archimedean solid, even though its faces consist of regular polygons that meet in the same pattern at each of its vertices, because unlike the 13 Archimedean solids, it lacks a set of global symmetries that map every vertex to every other vertex (though Grünbaum has suggested it should be added to the traditional list of Archimedean solids as a 14th example).
Rectified tesseractIn geometry, the rectified tesseract, rectified 8-cell is a uniform 4-polytope (4-dimensional polytope) bounded by 24 cells: 8 cuboctahedra, and 16 tetrahedra. It has half the vertices of a runcinated tesseract, with its construction, called a runcic tesseract. It has two uniform constructions, as a rectified 8-cell r{4,3,3} and a cantellated demitesseract, rr{3,31,1}, the second alternating with two types of tetrahedral cells. E. L. Elte identified it in 1912 as a semiregular polytope, labeling it as tC8.
HemipolyhedronIn geometry, a hemipolyhedron is a uniform star polyhedron some of whose faces pass through its center. These "hemi" faces lie parallel to the faces of some other symmetrical polyhedron, and their count is half the number of faces of that other polyhedron – hence the "hemi" prefix. The prefix "hemi" is also used to refer to certain projective polyhedra, such as the hemi-cube, which are the image of a 2 to 1 map of a spherical polyhedron with central symmetry.
Space frameIn architecture and structural engineering, a space frame or space structure (3D truss) is a rigid, lightweight, truss-like structure constructed from interlocking struts in a geometric pattern. Space frames can be used to span large areas with few interior supports. Like the truss, a space frame is strong because of the inherent rigidity of the triangle; flexing loads (bending moments) are transmitted as tension and compression loads along the length of each strut. Chief applications include buildings and vehicles.
