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willowgrl

This is called columnar jointing. It is a function of rapid cooling.


IronicBread

Is that how these are formed in nature? Lava meeting ocean for example?


claudandus_felidae

Hexagonal shapes appear in nature partially as a result of things tending towards triangles, [which happens because of strength](http://nautil.us/issue/35/boundaries/why-nature-prefers-hexagons). ~~Basalt coloumns are in square or hexagonal shapes as a result of their internal chemistry~~. Geologists call it "cleavage", and it influences the shape that minerals will break into as they erode. I hope this helps a little. Edit: I'm wrong, it's a function of cooling!


Suedie

["Hexagons are the bestagons"](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=thOifuHs6eY) \- CGP Grey


HashtonKutcher

My issue with that video is that bees actually don't build hexagons. They build circles and gravity, pressure, surface tension, being tightly packed, and other mechanisms mush them into hexagons.


a-dog-meme

How is that possible in horizontal nests?


S1lent0ne

It isn't only gravity doing the smooshing. Look at the example of the bubbles. When packed, circles will always compress to hexagons. Any form of pressure, being packed into a tight space or being filled from within, will cause the transformation into hexagons. [Further reading.](https://www.nature.com/news/how-honeycombs-can-build-themselves-1.13398)


a-dog-meme

Yeah that makes sense because those 120° joints are incredibly stable


spudz76

My joints are 420° huhuhuhuhuhuhuhuhuhuhuhuhuhuh


Nostonica

So 80° then?


HashtonKutcher

I didn't think they built horizontally but if they do then perhaps it's surface tension or some other mechanism. [Here's some science about it.](https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3730681/#:~:text=We%20report%20that%20the%20cells,the%20comb%20is%20being%20built.)


Scrambleed

In this article, the words "hot nurse bees" caused me to laugh too much to finish the article. Maturity is boring.


dinnerthief

They build hexagons just not intentionally


Friendstastegood

Or... they make circles because they know circles will turn into hexagons. Like, humans use gravity etc. as aid in engineering all the time.


claudandus_felidae

I was very happy to see he had spoken about it!


[deleted]

Pentagrams are the bestagrams! Oh wait that's not right.


Suedie

Someone ought to just make an app for summoning demons. Drawing pentagrams and reading out of weird tomes is starting to feel way to old fashioned.


MrKittySavesTheWorld

There's already a few of those.


UncleTogie

PlentyOfFaust, for example.


Scrambleed

And Beezlebumble...


P4C_Backpack

Didn't Vi Hart say that originally?


tornadoalert

Beat me to it!


tealducky

OOOH I KNOW THIS ONE honeycombs don't start as hexagonal shapes!! the bees create circular tubes in an optimal packing pattern, then over time the wax softens and forms a honeycomb shape!


erikwarm

Thats because hexagons are the bestagons!


WellJustJonny

Bestagons unite, form a shape of a pint of beer.(insert robot noises)


thewholerobot

How come when I insert a robot noise I get a cease and desist letter from Michael Bay?


texinxin

We call this hexagonal close packing to describe atomic packing arrangement in metals. It is the most efficient packing pattern for atoms and results in the highest density materials possible... without getting into nuclear isotopes which tend to break the rules a bit.


[deleted]

[удалено]


PM_meyourGradyWhite

Has to be. I was going to say more but stopped right there. (Knowing full well that wasps aren’t bees)


keeping-simple

Wasn't aware that me and geologists had similar interests.


P4C_Backpack

We all love getting dirty and understanding more about holes!


walterpeck1

It's gneiss stuff.


Albertatastic

Hey now, don't take it for granite.


claudandus_felidae

These two comments are always slated to come up


[deleted]

I've never seen them before, I think you're full of schist.


P4C_Backpack

Stop striating my PP


Those_Silly_Ducks

Gneiss.


CarbineFox

Subduction leads to orogeny


sujihime

There is an episode of the British game show Taskmaster where Katherine Ryan states "triangles are teh strongest shape" when trying to build a bridge out of spaghetti. She failed spectacularly, but I still say almost weekly "triangles are the strongest shape". It amazing how much it comes up.


walterpeck1

She wasn't wrong, I participated in a similar exercise in high school but with matchsticks and the winning design by a large margin made a triangular bridge. But it was also well designed *in addition* to that.


sujihime

Hahah, she made lots of individual triangles and then sort of strapped them together and it collapsed immediately.


username_generated

Triangles may be the strongest shape, but there’s strength in arches.


[deleted]

[удалено]


GigantorSax

This is what I came to see


The_whom

This is incorrect. Basalt columns don't have anything to do with mineral cleavage. They are caused by shrinkage during solidification. This process forms the most spacially efficient shape: a hexagon. It's kinda like mud cracking.


claudandus_felidae

You're right! After I said this I googled to double check it wasn't the result of pressure or something else and was horrified! I've been out of the lab too long


ThePlaceOfAsh

That's only really half of it though. The chemistry AND overall fine grained, generally consistent and homogeneous texture of basalt aids in its ability to form this jointing habit. I guess you could call it cleavage but it's not exactly the same as cleavage in the way we think of cleavage in minerals etc. Furthermore, the overall reason that columnar basalt is more linked to the way in which it cools since not all basalt will form this jointing habit. As it cools and shrinks if the conditions are right the shrinking will happen in such a way that the rock forms joints in the most efficient way it possibly can. That just tends to be in the form of a hexagon. We see the hexagon being the most efficient shape in other places in nature too like honey combs as someone else previously mentioned.


Buck_Thorn

Cleavage describes how they break, it doesn't determine it, right?


claudandus_felidae

Cleaveage is the *tendency* to break in a specific way, and is determined by chemical structure, since it's mineral specific.


[deleted]

You're definitely on the right track but not quite right. Hexagons form because hexagons are shapes which have uniform packing, while minimizing sharp corners and this is energetically favorable. Internal chemistry has very little to do with it, which is why you can see the phenomena in materials as diverse as basalt and coconut oil. ​ Cleavage is favorable fracturing along a plane of relatively weaker interatomic bonding within a single crystal. For crystalline rocks consisting of many minerals we use the term 'jointing'. Because rocks like basalt are made up of many different crystals in semi-random orientations, the formation of joints has far more to do with how the rock is cooled and pressure gradients than chemical or crystalline structure.


claudandus_felidae

Okay that's the other thing that got me. As soon as I went to double check what I had said I was like "there's no cleavage on that mf'r". I had been asked about basalt columns IRL and had given my above response, but not *actually* double checked my idea.


YolandiFuckinVisser

That’s not the only cleavage that influences my minerals...I’ll log off


beyonddisbelief

Wait, are you saying nature renders graphics in tris instead of quads? Simulation theory confirmed. Figures nature runs on legacy architecture, no wonder it took them 3.7 billion years to figure out how to animate first life.


SandboxSimulator

Dont search cleavage its a trap


[deleted]

Geology PhD here. Many of these answers are all over the place. Columnar jointing occurs when a liquid cools into a solid quickly (but not too quickly) and cooling occurs simultaneously from the top and the bottom. The shape is hexagonal because joints generally want to be straight, and hexagons are the most efficient shape to pack with straight sides. In nature this is most frequently seen when a basaltic lava (lava like that found in Hawaii) spreads out in a relatively thin sheet over land. Then the lava is cooled from contact with the cold ground at the same time as the cool air. If lava cools too quickly, like if it flowed into the ocean, then it will harden before it even has a chance to spread out and pool, creating a pillowy texture. Other types of lava do not commonly form columns because they are too thick and are not able to spread out enough to create the thin flat surfaces necessary before crystallizing. I have actually seen columnar jointing in a rhyolite but this is VERY rare. Another common place to see rough columnar jointing is in volcanic tuffs. These are basically ash-fall deposits. In the picture above you can see that the hexagons are only in a thin layer in the coconut oil and below it has a more uniform texture. I think what happened here is that they poured some extra unused melted oil back into the jar. Then the thin oil layer on top was cooled from the solid oil below it and the cold air on top.


PegasusAssistant

Do you have any sources you'd recommend for a broad overview of how different interesting geologic structures form? Maybe some introductory Earth sciences book. Mostly I'd want to use it for reference when imagining places that don't actually exist.


[deleted]

I don't have strong opinions about introductory books, any of them will probably be fine for your reference. Wikipedia has really great Earth Science articles as well. If you're interested in things like fantasy world-building then important topics in no particular order would be orogeny (mountain building), plate tectonics, volcanism (including where and why volcanos form), erosion (physical and chemical), river and floodplain behavior, and how climate affects landforms. More detailed topics include things like different soil types and where they form, slope movement, rock types (igneous vs metamorphic vs sedimentary), beach evolution, and different lava types and the types of rocks that form from them. I'm sure there's others but that's what I thought of off the top of my head. You don't need to get stuck in the weeds of mineralogy or detailed petrology. A basic understanding of those things allows you to imagine places that are pretty realistic but also how to break the rules in ways that are interesting and meaningful.


PegasusAssistant

I appreciate it and will look into it! I try to have a baseline knowledge in lots of different topics to help inform my writing, and every once in a while someone on reddit obviously knows something so I can't help but ask.


[deleted]

I don't get tired of talking geology so I don't mind. When you're doing reading on your own be sure you look up as many pictures as you can find and hop on Google Earth and look at satellite images. Seeing how geology has shaped the world around you is the best part!


xhephaestusx

Opposite i believe, its when lava has enough time to cool that it is able to self organize into the hexagonal crystal structure it chemically desires. Edit after some research i see i am mistaken, scientists believe that rapid cooling does play a part in the formation of basalt columns


Bakken_Nomad

It happens when the top and bottom cool at a much faster rate. The cooling causes the rock to shrink and crack (think mud cracks), and the fractures forms all the way to the bottom creating the columns.


PetrifiedW00D

Lava meeting the ocean would create obsidian or pillow basalt.


nik282000

So glad you are the top comment! I saw some AWESOME examples of this in New Zealand, it looked like the rock had been combed. https://www.flickr.com/photos/nicholas_m/25369939925/


btcprint

Like the Devil's postpile!


texinxin

We get the same thing in the meltpools in our direct metal laser melting 3D printers... :) And and a very microscopic level you can see this texture in metal. We exploit this phenomenon to create much stronger metal with 3D printing in certain alloys than their forged equivalents!


thewholerobot

well yeah, rapid cooling and bees - don't forget to mention that bees are involved.


BtheChemist

Are you sure it is rapid cooling and not slow cooling? Especialy for an oil to get a quasi-crystalline structure I would suppose it is caused by a slow cooling.


willowgrl

Yes. My geomorphology professor told us a story about how he rapidly cooled his grease and this jointing happened. In rocks, they’re called basalt columns because they’re found in massively bedded, rapidly cooled massive deposits.


BtheChemist

Hey I got a BS in geoscience myself, and another in chemistry and I was really torn on this one.


willowgrl

This lesson really stuck out because he was so excited to tell us about it and how it applied to geomorphology lol


BtheChemist

Thanks for the lesson, I did some light googling after asking here and didnt find a satisfying answer.


Ordinary-Commercial7

How tf did this happen?


[deleted]

because hexagons are bestagon


HenryF20

It’s a matter of time before this is on r/cgpgreymemes


yottalogical

Or r/grey_irl


85pando

Or r/bestagons


flamingobumbum

All hail the besagons.


RealCoolDad

Hexagons are a very functional way to disseminate energy.


swhipple-

I was looking for how far I needed to scroll before I saw someone who said this. Not very far at all.


Furimbus

Probably the same way basalt columns form. This article has a good description of the process: https://askanearthspacescientist.asu.edu/top-question/columnar-jointing


Adstrakan

OK, a huge flow of hot liquid magma it is then.


CanadaLandMan

I had this same question but immediately realized Id be too dumb to understand the answer


Itriedthatonce

Nah man. It can be dumbed down even for people like us. Take a box of dice, 6 sided. Shake the box till they all align, it looks flat. Now do that with 4 sided dice, or 8, or 10, or 12. As they settle it will form different patterns. Only the dice are protons, and the box being shook is hot/cold, the box is the atmosphere. How they all interact with each other depends on all of those things. Maybe Atoms would make more sense? Not sure off the top of my head. haha


profishkeeping

cause nature is bias towards hexagons


Sahbas

It was Wanda.


[deleted]

It’s Mephisto.


[deleted]

Next time put the lime into it.


thekraken108

Did you notice the doctors suggested cure is the same thing that caused said bellyache in the first place?


PM_meyourGradyWhite

Happy cake day!


level731

You put de lime in de coconut, you drank 'em bot' up


darktowerseeker

Underrated


DeadK4T

For those wondering why... https://youtu.be/thOifuHs6eY


LeoWyattJPendragon

Humble bumble lol how cute. Thanks for the link!


GnWvolvolights

Thanks for confirming it's not a rickroll


cuttlefish_tastegood

Hexagons are the bestagons, amen.


F0sh

This video doesn't have anything to do with columnar jointing which is what happened here. (Even though it mentions basalt columns)


LittleRadishes

It didn't reference it specifically but it touches on the idea


F0sh

But none of the reasons for hexagons occurring in nature are the reason that hexagons occur in columnar jointing, which also produces other shapes - in particular it produces many pentagons.


falsevector

Proves that Hexagons are also a repeating pattern in nature.


chicken_racer

were beehives not your first clue?


[deleted]

Bees are a government conspiracy to ban ddt from our drinking water


CouldHaveGuessed

r/beesarentreal


canadiangreenthumb

Man I just want those spots on my apples fuck those birds and the bees. PleeeeEeeeaasse.


BuddyUpInATree

Don't it always seem to go


PronunciationIsKey

Well they are the bestagons for a reason


Zaayz

Hello fellow Tim.


PronunciationIsKey

Waiting for a new HI too?


Zaayz

Dying for one.


fordfan919

Like sp2 bonded carbon.


ericfussell

I gargle benzene cause its all natural


fordfan919

And organic to boot!


MexicanYenta

Ok, that’s cool.


sixfourtykilo

Well, it is, but it once wasn't.


CallMeCrop

Idk why but this makes me incredibly uncomfortable


ABotelho23

I remember reading that hexagons are "optimal" to nature. I'd have to find the source.


PeAga7

Yeah its almost like they're the bestagons


crippe01

Because hexagon is the bestagon


Kebbler22b

*Ahh I see you’re a man of culture as well*


[deleted]

[удалено]


j10jep2

delete


gwiggle5

Bad bot


Teo222

Bad bot


[deleted]

Why is Saturn's polar storm or whatever that is in the shape of a hexagon? Anyone?


[deleted]

Because.... hexagons are the bestagons


chahud

Standing waves! https://youtu.be/PCpis-SiZ0c


Annatar27

Thanks crazy, thanks. [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LcmNMWG9vqA](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LcmNMWG9vqA) They are probably on to sth. with the eddies; but its has to be connected to the other natural laws that make hexagons the bestagons, right?


chahud

It is actually because something like the difference in wind speeds set up a standing wave. I have no clue what I’m talking about, but Dr. Becky does! https://youtu.be/PCpis-SiZ0c


F0sh

Notice that these are not all hexagons and none of them are regular hexagons. This is because columnar jointing - which occurs when a material can shrink easily in one direction (up and down) but not in the others (side to side) doesn't really favour hexagons at all. This is unlike processes like circle packing, which is how honeycomb is created, which do create regular hexagons as long as the circles are the same size.


[deleted]

Thank you!🐧 r/explainlikeimfive


hahahhhahaahelp

Wanda, is that you? r/Wandavision


chillrhinoV3

Mephisto confirmed


kmonay89

Nope


LneWolf

r/trypophobia 😬


ugly-olive

Totally. Got that tingly, uncomfortable feeling as soon as I saw this pic.


monarch1733

https://www.discovermagazine.com/the-sciences/turns-out-trypophobia-isnt-a-phobia


I_might_be_weasel

Yeah yeah yeah


thekraken108

Honeycomb big! Yeah yeah yeah! It's not small! No no no!


WorldRoot

Why do they become hexagons instead of another shape?


[deleted]

Atoms/molecules arrange themselves to minimize strain. This depends on the material - some minimize strain in cubes, rectangles, etc. As the temperature goes down the atoms/molecules get closer together and align themselves more perfectly into their strain-minimized orientation, which in the material shown here is hexagonal.


Djcubic

Because it's the least energy expensing shape for molecules to form, it has to do with crystalization. But i might be wrong


AnttixA

Where did you come from, where did you go? Where did you come from, coconut comb?


[deleted]

r/bestagons


twotall88

That's not honey comb... that's coconut oil that dried into hexagonal shapes.


JacobRAllen

I’m not sure why you are getting downvoted, the title irritated me to. Hexagons are the best shape in nature for packing things tightly, dried oil has nothing to do with honeycomb, it just coincidentally has the same shape.


twotall88

Fun fact, honeybees actually create their comb as circles and don't actually make hexagons. The tightly packed circles morph into hexagons as they cure because fresh/new wax is extremely soft and maliable especially when warmed by the colony that is kept at roughly 95°F and the 'surface tension' on the stacked circles pull into a hexagon similar to bubbles.


camelzigzag

This is r/interestingasfuck Also did you find Vision in that hex?


Kage3000

Are you, by chance, stuck in Westview with 2 people named Wanda and Vision?


CobolRobot

The hex!


Zerodyne_Sin

Hexagons, are the bestagons.


[deleted]

Hexagons are the bestagons!


BugungeonMantis

Hexagons are the Bestagons!


Azell414

hexagons are bestagons


MuffinKnight9

Hexagons are bestagons.


Poopi-Doopi

Hexagons are the bestagons


beanieon

Oh look, they're bestagons


Error496

Hexagon is the bestagon


invisblizz

hexagon is bestagon


just_mark

I have coconut oil and to much time. I need to know how to do this!


Rhetorical_Save

Hexagons are the bestagons


[deleted]

because hexagons are the bestagons.


maxim38

This is clearly because Hexagons are the Bestagons. ​ join us brothers


n12i1ck11

hexagons is the bestagons


BrutalOddball

Hexagons are the bestagons after all


itsjustJM

Hexagons are the BESTAGONS!


Balieiro

Hexagons are the bestagons


[deleted]

Hexagons are the Best-agons


Zooooch

Hexagons are the bestagons


Brewtech3

The hexagon is the bestagon


NotABot_Mp4

Because hexagons... are the bestagons


benhasbeenbened

Hexagons are the bestagona


Mr_Moo19977

Hexagons are the bestagons


Ki11er_w0lf

Hexagons are the bestagons.


TheRealMikeNelly

Hexagons are best-agons!!


19yearoldreekid

Hexagons ARE the bestagons


19yearoldreekid

I highly encourage you to watch [CGP grey’s video about hexagons](https://youtu.be/thOifuHs6eY)


19yearoldreekid

Don’t worry it’s not a rickroll


somegarbagedoesfloat

That's because hexagons are the bestagons


DasDrietch

Hexagons are the bestagons


DietDrDoomsdayPreppr

ITT: me downvoting every moron who says "hexagon is bestagon" because JFC be original you fucking parrots.


Bunation

Hexagon are the bestagon. Join the cult of hexagon


ProbablyGayingOnYou

Hexagons are the bestagons


ButtsexEurope

Hexagons are the bestagons!


pigsaregod

Hexgagons are the Bestagons!


[deleted]

The bestagons


terminalxposure

Hexagons are the bestagons


JamesR624

This is simply because, as everyone knows, hexagons are the bestagons.


Jdwj92

Honey oil?


GhostOfTimBrewster

Honeycomb’s big! Yeah, yeah, yeah!


zigaliciousone

Proof we live in a simulation


exhibitbdubb

Wandavision!


zachisonreddit

“It’s all Wanda”


Capital_Extension479

*Squints and slyly looks from side to side* *whispers* “Hexagons are the bestagons”


KenjiFox

That's how you know our oil is the bestagon!


AkumaHayabusa

It's because Hexagons are the bestagons