Week #4 - Mobius Strips

Post date: Mar 20, 2017 2:12:20 PM

We continued this week on the general theme of shape and space (topology). 

                                                                                                    [photo by Steve Krave]

The second photo is a sculpture at Fermilab (the high energy particle physics lab in the USA).

What we did:

• Made  Mobius strips out of paper and observed it only has one side by starting at a point and drawing down the center until you eventually return to the same point. Strangely, the line you draw is on "both" side of the paper 

• We then cut along this center line for a surprising result. Cutting the paper in half again leads to more surprises.

• Next we made a new Mobius strip and cut it into thirds. Again the result is surprising. 

• Briefly, we figured out how to draw a diagram to understand why these odd things happens. 

• Looked at the tri-flexagon we made last week. It is actually a Mobius band!!! 

Things to try at home: 

• Experiment by cutting Mobius strips in different ways

• Make different loops with a different number of twists and see what happens when you cut them in half.

Links:

• What we did is shown here. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tS2rLRYlFR8

  • Keep your eyes on one of the bugs. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zo8QB8ztIpU&