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Perhaps some of you here with more experience in math & physics can give some insight about this: I've subscribed to a weekly newsletter from Kurzweil AI. (Many of you might find it interesting; it covers futurism, technology, science, etc.) Recently, there were two consecutive articles about spiral shapes that I found curious: Pasta-shaped radio waves beamed across Venice
& Scientists twist light to send data at more than 2 terabits per second
Is there something inherent to spiral shapes that allows them to hold more |
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Well, I can tell you that DNA coiled up can hold more information because its structure maximizes surface area while decreasing the volume that it occupies. If you were to uncoil DNA then it be about a meter long. If you unwrapped the two strands, then it'd be twice as long. Mind you, this is with one molecule of DNA that can easily fit inside the tiniest organelles of one of your cells. The geometry involved in that is beyond me. I am sure somebody else has a better answer. Another amazing material that has a lot of surface area is activated carbon. Its surface area is absolutely insane, at about 500 sq. meters per gram. Also, you might be interested in this: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Menger_sponge Thanks for this answer, it's great! Actually I'm a little embarrassed that I didn't consider surface area/volume; it seems sort of obvious in hindsight. Your DNA example illustrates that well. ...but, I'm just assuming it works the same way for those other structures. Interesting that nature configures itself this way; I'm curious about the prevalence of this feature & whether it's important for any other systems or networks... The Menger Sponge is cool, though I don't know enough about topological dimensions or [universal] curves to really understand what's going on there (yet). No problem. I wish someone would answer the remainder of your question. |
