Moebius strips are wonderful. There’s an image at http://images.salon.com/comics/tomo/2003/08/29/tomo/story.jpg
showing Bush’s foreign policy as a Mobius strip. I couldn’t save it here so I borrowed this one from mcescher.com
Seed magazine says that two mathematicians – Gert van der Heijden and Eugene Starostin – have resolved the shape algebraically. I’ll have to take that on trust. I can’t even grasp what the problem is, so I doubt I’ll understand the solution..
What determines the strip’s shape is its differing areas of “energy density,” they say.
“Energy density” means the stored, elastic energy that is contained in the strip as a result of the folding. Places where the strip is most bent have the highest energy density; conversely, places that are flat and unstressed by a fold have the least energy density.
interesting post and a cool topic.
I accidently made a mobius loop when I was learning how to crochet. Its was a pretty awesome surprise – now I use it as a coffee cup insulator thing.
You might find my recently published sci-fi novel: “TIME TRIP ON A MOEBIUS STRP,” very interesting…There are 16 famous lost people of history who all find themselves in another dimension…They are all found there by a marine biologist who enters this other dimension by riding a giant metal Moebius strip inside of a giant nautilus shell…There is also an angel or goddess in the story…The reader is left up to deciding which of these two beings is the one in the story…You can buy my novel at Amazon.com … I promise you you will find the novel very interesting…I say this because I discovered many connecting links that all of these famous people share….I was amazed by what I discovered after reading all of their biographies….
Glad to see other people love Moebius strips. Thanks for the comments.
Zeolite leaves me wondering what shape the coffee cup is.
Book sounds fascinatingm will look for it.
You may also be interested in Klein bottles, which are Moebius containers with zero volume. You could use a Klein stein as a coffee mug.
Alun.
Wow. Wow again.
I thought you would like to see the article: “Moebius Strip Riddle Finally Solved” that was just made in July…Here is the website page from “Cosmos Magazine.”
http://www.cosmosmagazine.com/node/1457
Pingback: Mathematical objects » Why Dont You Blog?