Patterns in Nature: Hexagons

Hexagons. These six sided shapes appear often in the most peculiar of places. From rocks and minerals to honeybees, how and why are these perfect 120 degree structures created?

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Columnar Jointing

I thought i'd talk about this one first, as Hong Kong is a minefield of these. What other possible rock type would form such brilliant structures if not igneous. Made from volcanic activity erupting out lava, thick layers of the stuff settled and eventually cooled. During this cooling stage, the rock becomes denser (usually basalt (abundant in Iron) but it can be other types) and contracts to points of stability. One point of stability is surrounded by 6 others, which creates fissures in the perfect shape of a hexagon. These columns can range from half a meter to up to 15 meters like on Lesvos Island, Greece. Here are some examples of the most famous columns.

Giant's Causeway

The story goes that the Northern Irish giant, Finn McCool was to fight another, much bigger Scottish giant. He began to build a pathway from across the North Channel, only to find he could not defeat this giant who was much stronger. Instead he fled home and with the help of his wife was put in a cradle and dressed up as a baby. When Bennandonner arrived, he found the gigantic baby in the bed and thought to himself "if his baby is THIS big, how massive is his father?". In fear he returned back to Scotland, Leaving Finn McCool and Northern Ireland alone.

Away from the legend, we know in fact that the causeway was created from 100 meters worth of basaltic columns.

Devil's Postpile

This one I should mention firstly because I went there just last summer. Located in California near Mammoth Mountain, these six sided majestic beams are unique, for if you walk to the top of the structure, the hexagons have been scraped down from the last ice age to become perfectly polished to the point where they shine and you can see the hexagons in all their glory.

Devil's Tower

What is it with calling these things devils? Anyways, located in the North East of the arid Wyoming, this monument is peculiar as it is smack down in a sea of sedimentary. So how did it form if there isn't much volcanic activity in the area? Only across the state is the infamous Yellowstone, epicenter of volcanism. So the most popular theory of its becoming, is an igneous intrusion, cooling and contracting the form the 1,599 meter tall columns.

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Of Snow and Ice

Right so this one is a bit harder to write down and understand. But to simply state, when water vapor changes state to a solid in one go, six sided patterns of unimaginable variations occur, creating the Winter wonderland.

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Beehives and Honeycombs

Bees are probably THE most important organisms in the entire world for the survival of many species. More specifically, Honeybees. Even more specifically, forager bees, the female honeybees who go out to collect the nectar and pollen. By pollinating flowers not only do they create sweet honey, but also help pollen get from one flower to another, allowing asexual reproduction to take place, imperative in the ecosystem. They do this with the intention to get nectar back to their hives. They need it as it provides the essential energy (carbs) to keep them and the rest of their colony alive. Once the forager bees collect the nectar, they transfer it to the processor bees inside the hive, whose job is to convert that nectar into honey, and store them, in those perfectly formed hexagons. So why do they choose hexagons? What their aim is, is to create a hive which is extremely stable, but also can store the most amount of honey. It could be square, or triangles. But none are as stable as a hexagon.

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Hexagons in Other Places:

Animals like Turtles or Giraffes or Flies

Minerals such as Corundum (rubies) <, Quartz, Beryl (emerald). Because they have a hexagonal matrix, this makes them very demanded for jewelry as they can be easily cut and form clean and pretty gems.

Salt flats, when dried up can form six sided patterns.

Saturn's Hexagonal storm in the North has been going on for hundred of years.

Till next time,

Sabrina :)

#patterns #hexagon #bees #basalt #rocks #ice #saturn