Bees and geometry
Why the cells are hexagonal
Why the cells are hexagonal
A beehive cell can be defined as hexagonal from a geometric point of view. At the beginning the bee builds perfect circles arranged in a specific order. Then, thanks to the heat generated by the bees at work, the wax softens and deforms so as to form a solid hexagonal network. The hexagon is, among the figures that tessellate the plane, the one that encloses the largest area on the same perimeter. This is very convenient, since bees consume energy to make wax!
And from the three-dimensional point of view?
And from the three-dimensional point of view?
From the three-dimensional point of view, it is not entirely correct to speak of hexagonal-based prisms because the lower parts of the cells are not flat. In fact, the bottom is a dome of rhombic dodecahedron.
Pictures from our video "Build a Beehive"
