Description of the Forms Belonging to the 235 and m35 Icosahedral Point Groups Starting from the Pairs of Dual Polyhedra: Icosahedron-Dodecahedron and Archimedean Polyhedra-Catalan Polyhedra

Livio Zefiro* and Maria Rosa Ardigò
*Dip.Te.Ris., Università di Genova, Italy


Polyhedral form with icosahedral symmetry
  resulting from the intersection of 4 catalan polyhedra (triacontahedron, triakis-icosahedron, deltoidal hexacontahedron, pentakis-dodecahedron), 
  dual of as many semiregular archimedean polyhedra

Polyhedral form with icosahedral symmetry
resulting from the intersection
of the following Catalan polyhedra:

triakis-icosahedron
pentakis-dodecahedron
rhombic triacontahedron
deltoidal hexecontahedron
TABLE of CONTENTS (one can jump directly to each item by clicking on it)
  • INTRODUCTION
  • ASSOCIATIONS OF SYMMETRY ELEMENTS
  • DUAL FORMS CHARACTERIZING THE ICOSAHEDRAL POINT GROUPS
  • Dodecahedron & Icosahedron
  • Rhombic Triacontahedron & Icosidodecahedron
  • Truncated icosahedron & Pentakis-dodecahedron
  • Truncated dodecahedron & Triakis-icosahedron
  • Truncating Icosidodecahedron by Rhombic Triacontahedron
  • Archimedean Truncated Icosidodecahedron & Rhombicosidodecahedron
  • Rhombicosidodecahedron & Deltoidal Hexecontahedron
  • Truncated Icosidodecahedron & Hexakis-icosahedron
  • Pentagonal Hexecontahedron & Snub Dodecahedron
  • COMBINATIONS OF FORMS WITH ICOSAHEDRAL SIMMETRY
  • LIST OF PLATONIC AND ARCHIMEDEAN POLYHEDRA, AND THE CATALAN DUALS
  • Acknowledgements
  • References
  • Links

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    INTRODUCTION

    It is well known that the regular convex polyhedra (or Platonic solids) are only five, namely:
  • tetrahedron
  • cube
  • octahedron
  • dodecahedron
  • icosahedron
  • FIG.1- The five regular convex polyhedra (or Platonic solids), coloured in order to evidence the single faces

    TETRAHEDRON

    CUBE

    OCTAHEDRON

    DODECAHEDRON

    ICOSAHEDRON

     The last two polyhedra are less common than the others, because of their higher complexity, and because no specimen of crystals whose habit includes such forms has ever been found in Nature. The reason is the incompatibility of the 5-fold rotation axes, orthogonal to each face of the dodecahedron and passing through each vertex of the icosahedron, with any crystal lattice [1].

    The study of the coexistence rules of polyhedral forms, belonging to 235 and m35 icosahedral point groups (the second one named accordingly to [2], whereas elsewhere it is alternatively named m35), remained for a long time a mere theoretical (and aesthetic) exercise. A new motivation to deepen such studies [3-6] was given by the discovery of the so-called quasicrystals: they are essentially metal alloys that, as a consequence of a quick cooling, revealed at morphological and diffractometric examinations the surprising presence of a 5-fold rotational symmetry; it probably results from the presence in the atomic structure of compact packings, made of a limited number of atoms, with a symmetry of this kind.

    In addition to the aforementioned dodecahedron and icosahedron, a further polyhedron with a limited multiplicity (i.e., with a low number of faces) is the rhombic triacontahedron, characterized by the presence of thirty rhombic faces. Being the dual of the icosidodecahedron, namely a semiregular Archimedean polyhedron, it belongs to the family of Catalan polyhedra. (Recall that duality implies the exchange of faces and vertices between two polyhedra, both in number and position, whereas the number of edges is unchanged.)

    The following Archimedean polyhedra, whose faces consist of different pairs of regular polygons:

  • truncated icosahedron (20 hexagonal and 12 pentagonal faces)
  • truncated dodecahedron (20 triangular and 12 decagonal faces)
  • icosidodecahedron (20 triangular and 12 pentagonal faces)
  • are generated by the intersection between a dodecahedron and an icosahedron, when the ratio of the distances of the respective faces from the center of the resulting polyhedron gets the value appropriate for each pair of polygons.

    FIG.2- The icosidodecahedron (at the center of the sequence) is a semiregular Archimedean polyhedron that can be obtained by the reciprocal truncation of an icosahedron and a dodecahedron, both regular Platonic polyhedra.
    At intermediate steps of the truncation process, one can obtain two other Archimedean polyhedra: a truncated icosahedron, starting from the icosahedron, and a truncated dodecahedron, starting from the dodecahedron.
    From left to right:
  • icosahedron
  • truncated icosahedron
  • icosidodecahedron
  • truncated dodecahedron
  • dodecahedron
  • Two further Archimedean polyhedra, whose faces belong to different sets of three regular polygons:

  • truncated icosidodecahedron (12 decagonal, 20 hexagonal and 30 square faces)
  • rhombicosidodecahedron (12 pentagonal, 20 triangular and 30 square faces)
  • are instead generated from the intersection of three polyhedra: a dodecahedron, an icosahedron and a rhombic triacontahedron, also in these cases for appropriate values of the ratios of the distances of the different faces from the center of the resulting polyhedron (named central distances in the sequel) .
    FIG.3 - The truncated icosidodecahedron (on the left) and the rhombicosidodecahedron (on the right) are a couple of Archimedean polyhedra generated from the intersection of three polyhedra: an icosahedron, a dodecahedron and a rhombic triacontahedron. When the ratios between the distances of their faces from the center of the resulting polyhedron get appropriate values, the faces are regular polygons: together with squares, in the first case there are decagons and hexagons that, in the second case, become pentagons and triangles, respectively.

    The duals of all the previous Archimedean polyhedra are the following Catalan polyhedra:

  • pentakis-dodecahedron (60 faces with the shape of an isosceles triangle) is the dual of the truncated icosahedron
  • triakis-icosahedron (60 faces with the shape of an isosceles triangle) is the dual of the truncated dodecahedron
  • rhomb-triacontahedron (30 rhombic faces) is the dual of the icosidodecahedron
  • hexakis-icosahedron (120 faces with the shape of a scalene triangle) is the dual of the truncated icosidodecahedron
  • deltoid-hexecontahedron (60 faces with the shape of a deltoid or kite) is the dual of the rhombicosidodecahedron 
  • Catalan polyhedra are isohedral (or face-transitive), since in each  polyhedron the faces have the shape of an unique, non-regular polygon, even though generally symmetric (except the hexakis-icosahedron). On the other hand, whereas in Catalan polyhedra  the angoloids aren't all equal, the dual Archimedean polyhedra are isogonal (or vertex transitive), since their faces meet in identical vertices.
    FIG.4 - Catalan polyhedra dual of the Archimedean polyhedra previously listed
    From left to right:
  • pentakis-dodecahedron, dual of the truncated icosahedron
  • triakis-icosahedron, dual of the truncated dodecahedron
  • rhomb-triacontahedron (or rhomb-triacontahedron), dual of the icosidodecahedron
  • hexakis-icosahedron, dual of the truncated icosidodecahedron
  • deltoid-hexecontahedron (or deltoid-hexecontahedron), dual of the rhombicosidodecahedron
  • The hexakis-icosahedron, the sole with 120 asymmetric faces, unlike all the other forms is compatible only with the m35 point group, whereas another Catalan polyhedron, the pentagonal hexecontahedron, made of pentagonal faces symmetric with respect to a mirror plane, belongs only to 235, the other icosahedral point group.

    The dual of the pentagonal hexecontahedron is the snub dodecahedron, Archimedean polyhedron with a rather singular look, resulting from the intersection of the three following forms:

  • a dodecahedron
  • an icosaedron
  • a pentagonal hexacontaedron

    Even though the sixty faces of this pentagonal hexecontahedron are completely asymmetric (unlike the faces of the pentagonal hexecontahedron dual of the snub dodecahedron), for appropriate values of both:

  • the Miller indices of the faces of the pentagonal hexecontahedron
    and
  • the ratios between the central distances of the three forms
    due to the intersection with the dodecahedral and icosahedral faces, they assume the shape of equilateral triangles, having the same dimensions of the twenty triangular faces coming from the icosahedron. Therefore all the eighty triangular faces, together with the twelve pentagonal faces of the dodecahedron, originate the snub dodecahedron, that is an Archimedean polyhedron, being made of regular polygons.

    The absence of mirror planes and center of symmetry implies that, because of enantiomorphism, in this case there are two chiral couples of dual polyhedra: each couple is made of a snub dodecahedron and a pentagonal hexecontahedron, both right or left.

    FIG.5 - Couple of dual polyhedra: Catalan pentagonal hexecontahedron (on the left) and Archimedean snub dodecahedron (on the right)

    In all the icosahedral polyhedra made of  different forms, the positions of dodecahedral, icosahedral and rhomb-triacontahedral faces with respect to the reference axes are always fixed, being perpendicular to the  5-fold, 3-fold and 2-fold rotation axes, respectively, characterizing the icosahedral symmetry.
    On the other hand, every other single generic form, having usually an orientation different from the one of the corresponding Catalan polyhedron, is subject only to the following constraints:

  • to be parallel to the 2-fold axes (in case of triakis-icosahedra, deltoidal hexecontahedra and pentakis-dodecahedra)
    or, as an alternative
  • to be in a general position as regards every symmetry operator (in case of hexakis-icosahedra or, depending on the point group, of pentagonal hexecontahedra).
  • In general, all the possible ways to obtain polyhedra having an icosahedral symmetry come from the coexistence of any number of forms previously listed, taking into account that the central distance of the faces of every form can assume any value.

    As an example, Fig.6 shows in the upper row a pair of polyhedra, deriving from the intersection of the four forms reported in the lower row. The faces of these polyhedra have the simplest indices: (100) for the triacontahedron, (111) for the icosahedron, (110) for a generic deltoidal hexecontahedron and (112) for a generic hexakis-icosahedron.
     In the former polyhedron the central distances of the faces belonging to the four forms are different, whereas in the latter they are equal: consequently, the relative extent of the faces  varies significantly in the pair of polyhedra, in particular as regards the rhomb-triacontahedral and the deltoid-hexecontahedral faces.

    Triacontahedron Icosahedron Deltoid-hexecontahedron Hexakis-icosahedron
    FIG.6 - Pair of polyhedra deriving from the intersection of the same four forms:
  • a rhomb-triacontahedron and an icosahedron, whose faces are orthogonal to 2-fold and 3-fold axes, respectively
  • a deltoidal hexecontahedron and a hexakis-icosahedron, both generic polyhedra where the indices of the faces are different from the ones of the corresponding Catalan polyhedra.
    The relative extent of the four forms changes in the two polyhedra, as a consequence of the variation of each central distance.


  • ASSOCIATIONS OF SYMMETRY ELEMENTS

    It is useful to examine in detail the associations of symmetry operators characterizing the icosahedral point groups, also with the intent to evidence their relationships with the classic crystallographic points groups

    On the whole, the symmetry operators present in 235  point group (or crystal class) consist of:

  • fifteen 2-fold axes
  • ten 3-fold axes
  • six 5-fold axes
    whereas in m35 point group also the center of symmetry and fifteen mirror planes perpendicular to the 2-fold axes group must be added to the previous rotation axes.
    As described in [2], Eulero's formula:

    (where α, β, γ indicate the angles of rotation, around an appropriate direction, by which all the crystallographic elements, and the whole crystal form, superimpose) lets one obtains the possible angles ω between each couple of such directions.
    In particular, concerning 5-fold axes, one obtains that the least angles between:

  • couples of 5-fold axes are equal to 63.43°
  • 5-fold axes and 3-fold axes are equal to 37.38° and 79.18°
  • 5-fold axes and 2-fold axes are equal to 31.72°, 58.28° and 90°.
  • According to these values, the icosahedral point groups can be represented by the following four stereographic projections of their symmetry operators.
    In addition to the position of the rotation axes, all and sundry reported in the stereographic projections, in the first three projections also the zones of the fifteen 2-fold axes, the ten 3-fold axes and the six 5-fold axes are sequentially reported (a zone includes all the faces parallel to a certain crystallographic direction); in the fourth projection, together with the zones of all the rotation axes, the fifteen mirror planes, present in  m35 point group and coinciding with the zones of the 2-fold axes, are represented (drawn with solid lines).

    FIG.7 - Free-hand drawing of the stereographic projections of the icosahedral symmetry operators.
     In addition to the position of 2-fold, 3-fold and 5-fold rotation axes:
  • the fifteen zones of the 2-fold axes (dashed in black)
  • the ten zones of the 3-fold axes (dashed in blue)
  • the six zones of the 5-fold axes (dashed in red)
  • the zones of all the rotation axes, together with the fifteen mirror planes (drawn with solid lines) coinciding with the zones of the 2-fold axes
    are sequentially  reported in the figure
  •    Analogously to what happens for the crystallographic 23 point group, subgroup of 235 point group, three mutually orthogonal 2-fold axes play the role of reference axes.
        In the following table one can see the values of all the angles formed between each pair of rotation axes.

    TABLE 1- Angles between pairs of rotation axes
       2 3 5
    2 36° 20.91° 31.72°
    2 60° 54.74° 58.28°
    2 72° 69.10° 90°
    2 90° 90° 
    3  41.81° 37.38°
    3  70.53° 79.19°
    5    63.44°

        As one can see, the different least values of the angles not concerning 5-fold axes are the following:

  • 41.81° and 70.53° between pairs of 3-fold axes
  • 36°, 60°, 72°, 90° between pairs of 2-fold axes
  • 20.91°, 54.74°, 69.10°, 90° between a 2-fold and a 3-fold axis.

    The detailed examination, also by the stereographic projection, of the reciprocal orientation of the rotation axes reveals that:

    • the fifteen 2-fold axes are placed along five sets of three orthogonal directions
    • the orientations of four of the ten 3-fold axes coincide with the [111] direction and their equivalent ones, namely they are placed along the diagonal of a cube; the other six 3-fold axes are, in pairs, orthogonal to each of the three 2-fold axes chosen as reference axes.
    • also the six 5-fold axes are, in pairs, orthogonal to each of the three 2-fold axes chosen as reference axes.
    • orthogonally to each 3-fold axis one can count three 2-fold axes, spaced 60° from each other
    • orthogonally to each 5-fold axis one can count five 2-fold axes, spaced 36° from each other
    • in correspondence of each couple of 2-fold axes belonging to the five orthogonal sets of three 2-fold axes, there is a couple of 3-fold axes, forming angles of 20.90° e 69.10° with each axis of the couple of 2-fold axes, and orthogonal to the third 2-fold axis.
    • in correspondence of each couple of 2-fold axes belonging to the five orthogonal set of three 2-fold axes, there is also a couple of 5-fold axes, forming angles of 31.72° e 58.28° with each axis of the couple of 2-fold axes, and orthogonal to the third 2-fold axis.
    • in other words, whereas the 3-fold and 5-fold axes are placed at the intersection of the zones of three and five 2-fold axes, respectively, the 2-fold axes are placed at the intersection of six zones, relative to three pairs of 2-fold, 3-fold and 5-fold axes.

    DUAL FORMS CHARACTERIZING THE ICOSAHEDRAL POINT GROUPS

    Each of the six forms placed in a particular orientation (parallelism and sometimes also orthogonality), as regards the symmetry operators, is compatible with both 235 and m35 point groups; on the contrary, the seventh form, that is in general position, results different in the two point groups, also concerning multiplicity, because of the presence in the m35 point group of both the fifteen mirror planes and the center of symmetry, all absent in the 235 point group.

    DODECAHEDRON AND ICOSAHEDRON

      Both dodecahedron and icosahedron are convex regular polyhedra (or Platonic solids): their faces are made of twelve regular pentagons orthogonal to the 5-fold axes, and twenty equilateral triangles orthogonal to the 3-fold axes, respectively; in both polyhedra 2-fold axes pass in the middle point of every edge.
    An important feature of the pair dodecahedron and icosahedron is that they are duals: duality implies that in every dual pair the polyhedra interchange faces and vertices (including their number and respective positions,) whereas the number of edges is always the same in the two polyhedra of the dual pair, as follows from the known rule: F + V = E + 2.
    In this specific case, 12 faces and 20 vertices of the dodecahedron correspond to 20 faces and 12 vertices of the icosahedron: therefore the edges are 30 both in the dodecahedron and in the icosahedron.

    FIG.8 - On the left: dodecahedron {1τ0} with all the rotation axes present in the 235 point group
    On the right: the relative stereographic projection viewed along the crystallographic axis c

    Note: all the images of polyhedra and relative stereographic projections have been obtained by SHAPE 7.0, a software program for drawing the morphology of crystals, distributed by Shape Software.

    An important difference between icosahedral and crystallographic point groups consists in the possibility that the indices can assume the value of irrational numbers, instead of being integers.
      The dodecahedron is the unique form, compatible with both icosahedral point groups, whose faces can be obtained from all the possible cyclic permutations, changes of sign included, of just one set of three indices, {1τ0}, where τ = (√5+1)/2 =1.61803... denotes the golden ratio. In contrast, the indices of the faces belonging to all the other single icosahedral forms can assume values coming from two, three or five set of indices, depending on each case.
    For example, eight of the twenty sets of three indices naming the faces of the icosahedron are derived from {111}, taking into account all the possible changes of sign, and twelve from the cyclic permutations, changes of sign included, of the other set of indices {τ 1/τ 0}; such two sets of indices correspond to forms belonging to the m3 cubic point group, subgroup of the m35 point group. They are the octahedron, consisting of faces with the shape of equilateral triangles, and a particular pentagon-dodecahedron, in which every face (with irrational indices) has the shape of a non-regular pentagon, becoming an equilateral triangle as a consequence of its intersections with two adjacent triangular faces of the octahedron.

    FIG.9
  • On the left: the icosahedron, whose faces have indices deriving from {111} and {τ 1/τ 0}, drawn together with all the rotation axes
  • On the right: its stereographic projection (viewed along the crystallographic axis c)
  • The icosahedron can also be considered as the result of the intersection of five tetrahedra:

    {111}, {τ  1/τ  0}, {τ  -1/τ  0}, {111}, {1/τ  0 τ}

    related by the six 5-fold axes.
    In the following image the five tetrahedra, whose intersection generates the icosahedron, are shown in the appropriate orientation together with the 5-coloured icosahedron.

    FIG.10 - Five-coloured icosahedron generated by the intersection of as many tetrahedra, whose faces are orthogonal to all the 3-fold axes present in the icosahedron.

    RHOMBIC TRIACONTAHEDRON AND ICOSIDODECAHEDRON

    The action of the set of symmetry elements over each face placed orthogonally to a 2-fold axis generates the rhombic triacontahedron (or rhomb-triacontahedron), made up of thirty rhombic faces. The ratio between the lengths of the diagonals of the faces corresponds to the golden ratio τ.
    (Analogously one can note the existence, in the cubic system, of a somehow similar form, the rhombic dodecahedron {110}, made up of twelve rhombic faces. The ratio between the lengths of the diagonals of the faces in this case corresponds to the value √2).
    In addition to the 2-fold axes orthogonal to the faces, there are also 3-fold and 5-fold axes passing through the vertices shared by three or five faces, respectively; besides, pairs of orthogonal planes, parallel to the diagonal of the rhombic faces, cross one another in correspondence of the 2-fold axes.

    FIG.11 - Rhombic triacontahedron and its stereographic projection (viewed along the crystallographic axis c)

    Analogously to the icosahedron, also the rhombic triacontahedron is made up of faces whose indices derive from two different sets of indices: {100} and {τ 1 1/τ}; as a consequence of their cyclic permutations, changes of sign included, one obtains the overall number of 6+24 = 30 faces.
    With reference to the five sets of three orthogonal 2-fold axes previously described, the rhombic triacontahedron may be regarded as deriving from the intersection of five cubes, whose faces, orthogonal to such set of three axes, can be named:

    {100}, {τ 11/τ}, {τ 11/τ}, {11/τ τ}, {1-1/τ τ}

    related one another by the 5-fold axes and shown in different colours in Fig.12, together with the 5-coloured rhombic triacontahedron generated by their intersection.

    FIG.12- Five-coloured rhombic triacontahedron and the five cubes, properly orientated, which intersection generates the rhombic triacontahedron

    The rhombic triacontahedron belongs to the family of  Catalan polyhedra (so named after the Belgian mathematician Eugène Charles Catalan) made up by equal faces, having the shape of generally symmetric but non-regular polygons, and different regular angoloids. The duals of the isohedral Catalan polyhedra are the isogonal semiregular Archimedean polyhedra, in turn characterized by faces made up by two or three different regular polygons (whose sides and angles are therefore all equal) and by equal but non-regular angoloids.

    The dual of the rhombic triacontahedron is the icosidodecahedron, Archimedean polyhedron consisting of 20 triangular and 12 pentagonal faces, orthogonal to 3-fold and 5-fold axes, respectively, whereas 2-fold axes pass through the 30 vertices. Each vertex is shared by four polygons, a pair of equilateral triangles and a pair of regular pentagons, oriented in an opposite direction with respect to the triangles and pentagons constituting the faces of icosahedron and dodecahedron, respectively. In order to generate the icosidodecahedron by the intersection of an icosahedron and a dodecahedron, the ratio between the distances of their faces from the center of the polyhedron must assume the following value:

    dicosahedron /ddodecahedron  = (τ /√3)/(τ /√τ²+1) = √(τ² +1)/3 = 1.0982

    It must be pointed out that, just as it happens with the other dual pairs consisting of an Archimedean polyhedron and a Catalan polyhedron, the ratio between the central distances of the triangular and pentagonal faces of the icosidodecahedron is the reciprocal of the ratio between the central distances of the two different vertices of the dual rhombic triacontahedron, lying along the 3-fold and 5-fold axes, respectively.
    FIG.13 - Icosidodecahedron and its stereographic projection (viewed along the crystallographic axis c)

    In particular, when the central distances of the faces of an icosidodecahedron have just the following values:
  • τ /√τ² +1 =0.8507 for dodecahedral faces
    and
  • τ /√3 = 0.9342 for icosahedral faces,
    the faces, having an unitary central distance, that belong to the rhombic triacontahedron, dual of the icosidodecahedron,   result to be exactly tangent to the vertices of the icosidodecahedron.
  • According to the rule: F+V=E+2, since for the dual pair consisting of triacontahedron and icosidodecahedron the sum of the number of faces and vertices corresponds to 30 + 32 = 62, the edges are sixty in both polyhedra.

     There are two other semiregular polyhedra, the Archimedean truncated icosahedron and the Archimedean truncated dodecahedron (of which the icosidodecahedron just described can be considered an intermediate form), both deriving from the intersections between icosahedron and dodecahedron.


    TRUNCATED ICOSAHEDRON AND PENTAKIS-DODECAHEDRON

      In a generic truncated icosahedron, the icosahedral faces truncated by the pentagonal faces of dodecahedron assume firstly the shape of non-regular hexagons (Fig.14): nevertheless they are symmetric relatively to three reflection lines, forming each other angles of 60°, which intersect in the center of the faces.

    ICOSAHEDRON  (dicosahedron = τ /√3)  TRUNCATED BY DODECAHEDRON

    ICOSAHEDRON
    ddodecahedron = √1+1/τ² = 1.1756

    ddodecahedron = 1.10 ddodecahedron = 1.05
    ddodecahedron = 1

    ARCHIMEDEAN
    TRUNCATED ICOSAHEDRON
    ddodecahedron = (1+1/3τ²)/√1+1/τ² = 0.9590

    ddodecahedron = 0.921
    ddodecahedron = 0.9 ddodecahedron = 0.87 ICOSIDODECAHEDRON
    ddodecahedron =  1/√1+1/τ²
     =  0.8565
    FIG.14 - Series of polyhedra, obtained truncating an icosahedron by a dodecahedron, included between the icosahedron (left upper corner of the figure), and the icosidodecahedron (right lower corner). They are characterized by:
  • pentagonal-shaped faces of dodecahedron with increasing dimensions
  • icosahedral faces generally with the shape of non-regular (but symmetric) hexagons, except for the Archimedean truncated icosahedron (central image), whose icosahedral faces are regular hexagons, and the icosidodecahedron (last image), whose icosahedral faces are equilateral triangles.
    Whereas the central distance of the icosahedral faces is constant in every polyhedron and equal to
    τ /√3, the central distance of the dodecahedral faces decreases from 1+1/τ² (value at which the faces of dodecahedron are tangent to the vertices of icosahedron), to 1/√1+1/τ², in case of icosidodecahedron; for such range of values of the distances of the dodecahedral and icosahedral faces, the faces of a rhombic triacontahedron having a unitary central distance would be tangent:
  • to the edges between each pair of icosahedral faces, in the icosahedron and in every truncated icosahedron
  • to every vertices, in the icosidodecahedron
  • When the ratio between the central distances of dodecahedral and icosahedral faces assumes the following value:

    ddodecahedron /dicosahedron =  (1+1/3τ²)√3/(τ²+1) = 1.0265

    the faces deriving from the icosahedron become regular hexagons and together with the regular pentagonal faces of the dodecahedron originate the Archimedean truncated icosahedron, whose shape is that of a soccer ball.
    Each of its vertices is shared by three regular polygons, namely two hexagons and a pentagon. Three- and five-fold axes are orthogonal to hexagonal and pentagonal faces, respectively, whereas two-fold axes pass through the middle point of each edge common to two hexagonal faces.
    FIG.15 - Archimedean truncated icosahedron and its stereographic projection (viewed along the crystallographic axis c)

    As a consequence of the further truncation of the icosahedron by the dodecahedron, after the Archimedean truncated icosahedron one obtains, in addition to dodecahedral faces with the shape of regular pentagons, icosahedral faces having again the shape of non-regular but symmetric hexagons, as shown in Fig.14; the length of the set of three short hexagonal sides decreases progressively, till it vanishes arriving at the equilateral triangular faces of the icosidodecahedron.

    The dual of the Archimedean truncated icosahedron is the Catalan pentakis-dodecahedron, whose faces are named by indices deriving from the cyclic permutation, changes of sign included, of three sets of indices:

    {1 3τ 0}, {τ3 τ  2}, {τ²+1 2τ 1}

    It consists of sixty faces with the shape of an isosceles triangle, such that:
  • a 5-fold axis passes through the vertex between the two equal sides
  • a 3-fold axis passes through each of the other two vertices
  • a 2-fold axis passes in the middle of the side different from the two others.

    The Catalan pentakis-dodecahedron can be supposed to derive from a dodecahedron, substituting each face with a pentagonal pyramid having the height H given by the relation:

    H = L/[√1+ 1/τ² (3 + 1/τ²)]  = 0.251L
    where L is the length of the side of the pentagonal base of the pyramid, namely the dodecahedral face. The triangular faces of the pyramid (in which the length of the two equal sides is 0.887L and the two equal angles measure 55.69°) are inclined 20.08° relative to the pentagonal base of the pyramid.
  • FIG.16 - Catalan pentakis-dodecahedron, dual of the semiregular truncated icosahedron, and its stereographic projection (viewed along the crystallographic axis c)

     In addition to the Catalan pentakis-dodecahedron dual of the Archimedean truncated icosahedron, there are other generic pentakis-dodecahedra (duals of the truncated icosahedra different from the Archimedean one) all including faces {hk0} characterized by a ratio between the indices h and k such that:

    0 < h/k < 1/τ

    The heights of all the pyramids in the different pentakis-dodecahedra range between:
  • Hmin = 0, when the pentagonal pyramid flattens out, assuming the shape of the pentagonal face of the dodecahedron from which the pentakis-dodecahedron derives
  • Hmax = L/2√1+1/τ²  = 0.425L, value such that each couple of adjacent faces belonging to different pentagonal pyramids collapses, originating a unique rhombic face of triacontahedron, inclined of 31.72° with respect to the bases of both pentagonal pyramids.
    If the height of the pyramids exceeds the value of Hmax, the polyhedron wouldn't be convex anymore.

    FIG.17 - Forms whose faces have indices {hk0} such that the ratio h/k ranges between 1/τ and 0
    a) dodecahedron {1τ0}, obtained in correspondence of the value Hmin= 0, meaning that the pyramids have flattened out completely
    b) pentakis-dodecahedron
    {1 2τ 0}
    c) Catalan pentakis-dodecahedron
    {1 3τ 0}, dual of the Archimedean truncated icosahedron, obtained when the height of the pyramids is: H = 0.251L
    d) pentakis-dodecahedron
    {1 8τ 0}
    e) rhombic triacontahedron
    {010}, obtained when the height of the pyramids is Hmax= 0.425L

    In relation to the dual pair consisting of truncated icosahedron and pentakis-dodecahedron, the sum of the number of faces and vertices corresponds to:

    F + V = 32 + 60 = 92
    Then in both polyhedra the edges are ninety.

    TRUNCATED DODECAHEDRON AND TRIAKIS-ICOSAHEDRON

      At the beginning of the truncation of the dodecahedron by the triangular faces of the icosahedron, the dodecahedral faces become non-regular decagons, even though they are symmetric with respect to five reflection lines intersecting in the center of each decagon.

    DODECAHEDRON (ddodecahedron= 1/√1+1/τ²) TRUNCATED BY ICOSAHEDRON

    DODECAHEDRON
    dicosahedron = √3/τ = 1.0705

    dicosahedron = 1.05 dicosahedron = 1.03
    dicosahedron = 1

    ARCHIMEDEAN
    TRUNCATED DODECAHEDRON
    dicosahedron = (τ /√3)(7τ-6)/5 = 0.9951

    dicosahedron = 0.97
    dicosahedron = 0.96 dicosahedron = 0.95

    ICOSIDODECAHEDRON
    dicosahedron =  τ /√3 = 0.93417

    FIG.18- Series of polyhedra, obtained truncating a dodecahedron by an icosahedron, included between the dodecahedron (left upper corner of the figure), and the icosidodecahedron (right lower corner). They are characterized by:
  • triangular-shaped faces of the icosahedron with increasing dimensions
  • dodecahedral faces generally with the shape of non-regular (but symmetric) decagons, except for the Archimedean truncated dodecahedron (central image), whose dodecahedral faces are regular decagons, and the icosidodecahedron (last image), whose dodecahedral faces are regular pentagons.
    Whereas the central distance of the dodecahedral faces is constant in every polyhedron and equal to
    1/√1+1/τ², the central distance of the icosahedral faces decreases from 3/τ, (at which value the faces of icosahedron are tangent to the vertices of dodecahedron), to τ /√3, in case of the icosidodecahedron; for such range of values, the faces of the dual rhombic triacontahedron placed at an unitary central distance would be tangent:
  • to the edges between each pair of dodecahedral faces, in dodecahedron and in every truncated dodecahedron
  • to every vertices, in icosidodecahedron
  • Only when the ratio between the central distances of the two forms becomes equal to:

    dicosahedron /ddodecahedron = √(τ² +1)/3 (7τ-6)/5 = 1.1698

    the faces of the dodecahedron assume the shape of regular decagons, thus obtaining the Archimedean truncated dodecahedron, in which each vertex is shared by three regular polygons: two decagons and a triangle.
    Three-fold and five-fold axes are orthogonal to triangular and decagonal faces respectively, whereas two-fold axes pass through the middle of every edge common to two decagonal faces.
    FIG.19 - Archimedean truncated dodecahedron and its stereographic projection (viewed along the crystallographic axis c)

    As a consequence of the further truncation of the dodecahedron by the icosahedron, after the Archimedean truncated dodecahedron one obtains, in addition to icosahedral faces with the shape of equilateral triangles, dodecahedral faces having again the shape of non-regular but symmetric decagons; the length of the set of five short decagonal sides decreases progressively, till it vanishes arriving at the regular pentagonal faces of the icosidodecahedron.

    The dual of the Archimedean truncated dodecahedron is the Catalan triakis-icosahedron (or trisicosahedron), whose faces are named by indices deriving from the cyclic permutation, changes of sign included, of three sets of indices:

    {τ²+1 1/τ  0}, {τ² 2 τ}, {2τ τ 1/τ}

    It consists of sixty faces having the shape of an isosceles triangle, such that:

  • a 3-fold axis passes through the vertex between the two equal sides
  • a 5-fold axis passes through each of the other two vertices
  • a 2-fold axis passes in the middle of the side different from the two others.

     The Catalan triakis-icosahedron can be supposed to derive from an icosahedron, substituting each face with a trigonal pyramid having the following height H:

    H= L / [√3(5τ + 2)]= 0.057L
  • In this relation L is the length of the side of the triangular base of the pyramid, namely the icosahedral face.
    The triangular faces of the pyramid (in which the length of the two equal sides is 0.58L and the two equal angles measure 30.48°)  are 11.21° inclined with respect to the base of the pyramid.

    FIG.20 - Catalan triakis-icosahedron, dual of the Archimedean truncated dodecahedron, and its stereographic projection (viewed along the crystallographic axis c)

    In addition to the Catalan triakis-icosahedron, dual of the Archimedean truncated dodecahedron, there are other generic triakis-icosahedra (duals of all the truncated dododecahedra different from the Archimedean one) all including faces {hk0} characterized by a ratio between the indices h and k such that:

    0 < k/h < 1/τ2

    The heights of the trigonal pyramids, relative to all the different triakis-icosahedra, range between:

    • Hmin= 0, when the trigonal pyramid flattens out, assuming the shape of the triangular face of the icosahedron from which the triakis-icosahedron derives
    • Hmax= √3L /6τ² = 0.11L, value such that each couple of adjacent faces, belonging to two trigonal pyramids, collapses originating an unique rhombic face of triacontahedron, inclined of 20.91° with respect to the bases of both trigonal pyramids.
    Also in this case, if the height of the pyramids exceeds the value of Hmax, the polyhedron wouldn't be convex anymore.

    FIG.21 - Forms whose faces have indices {hk0} such that the ratio k/h ranges between 0 and 1/τ²
     a) rhombic triacontahedron {100}, obtained when the height of the pyramids is Hmax= 0.11L
     b) triakis-icosahedron
    {8 1/τ 0}
     c) Catalan triakis-icosahedron
    {τ²+1 1/τ  0}, dual of the Archimedean truncated dodecahedron, obtained when the height of the pyramids is H = 0.057L
     d) triakis-icosahedron
    {τ² 1/τ 0}
     e) icosahedron
    {τ 1/τ 0}, obtained in correspondence of the value Hmin= 0, meaning that the trigonal pyramids have flattened out completely

    Since the total number of faces and vertices corresponds to:

    F + V = 32 + 60 = 92
    also in case of the dual pair truncated dodecahedron and triakis-icosahedron, the edges are ninety in both polyhedra.

    TRUNCATING ICOSIDODECAHEDRON BY RHOMBIC TRIACONTAHEDRON

    The beginning of the truncation by means of a rhombic triacontahedron of all the vertices of an icosidodecahedron (polyhedron a in Fig.22) for which, as already seen, ddodecahedron /dicosahedron = 0.9106, firstly transforms the triangular and pentagonal faces of the icosidodecahedron into hexagonal and decagonal polygons, respectively, both non-regular even though symmetric, whereas the faces of the triacontahedron assume a rectangular shape (ref: polyhedra b-d-f).
      Only in two circumstances, for particular values of the central distance of the triacontahedrical faces, it happens that the decagons (rif: polyhedron c) or the hexagons (ref: polyhedron e) from non-regular polygons become regular ones.

      Decreasing the central distance of the rhomb-triacontahedral faces, one obtains the polyhedron g, whose faces, besides the rectangular ones, consist of equilateral triangles and regular pentagons as well as the initial faces of the icosidodecahedron, but orientated in an opposite direction.
      Proceeding with the truncation, before the complete elimination of the icosahedral faces by the rhomb-triacontahedral ones, in the resulting polyhedron there is the simultaneous presence of triangular and pentagonal faces, both regular, separated by octagonal faces of triacontahedron, which are non-regular even though symmetric (ref: polyhedron h).

      After the elimination of the icosahedral triangular faces, the remaining faces are the dodecahedral pentagonal faces and the rhomb-triacontahedral faces which from octagonal become hexagonal, always non-regular but symmetric: the six sides of the hexagonal faces consist of four short sides and two long sides (ref: polyhedron i).
      The length of the pair of longer sides decreases progressively as the further truncation proceeds, arriving at the polyhedron j, in which the lengths of all the sides of the hexagonal faces are equal (the hexagons are not regular polygons, since the angles between the sides of each hexagon assume two different values).
      Successively the hexagonal faces deform again, lengthening progressively along a direction orthogonal to the direction along which they were stretched previously (ref: polyhedron k, in which the hexagonal faces consist of four short sides and two long sides), until the truncation eliminates also the pentagonal faces: at this point the resulting polyhedron includes only the rhomb-triacontahedral faces (ref: polyhedron l).

      Obviously one obtains the same result by keeping constant the central distance of the rhomb-triacontahedral faces and increasing the central distances of both dodecahedral and icosahedral faces, provided that the ratio ddodecahedron /dicosahedron  remains equal to 0.9106.
      Therefore no Archimedean polyhedron can be obtained just truncating an icosidodecahedron by means of a rhombic triacontahedron.

    FIG.22- Progressive truncation of an icosidodecahedron, realized diminuishing the central distance of a rhombic triacontahedron (a-h); after the elimination of the icosahedral triangular faces, the further decrease (i-l) of the central distance of the rhomb-triacontahedral faces causes the reduction and subsequent disappearence also of the pentagonal faces of the dodecahedron.

    ARCHIMEDEAN TRUNCATED ICOSIDODECAHEDRON AND RHOMBICOSIDODECAHEDRON

     Archimedean truncated icosidodecahedron and rhombicosidodecahedron are the two further semiregular polyhedra which, as just described, cannot be obtained truncating directly an icosidodecahedron by means of a rhombic triacontahedron, but, more generally, derive from the intersection of the three forms: icosahedron, dodecahedron and rhombic triacontahedron, taking into account possible intermediate steps as described in Fig.23.

    Regarding the Archimedean truncated icosidodecahedron (name that, for the aforementioned reasons, is not entirely appropriate and consequently it is sometimes replaced by "great rhombicosidodecahedron"), the icosahedral, dodecahedral and rhomb-triacontahedral faces become regular hexagonal, regular decagonal and square ones, respectively, when the ratios between each pair of central distances assume the following values:

    ddodecahedron / dicosahedron = (1+1/τ²)√1+1/τ² /√3= 0.9380

    dicosahedron / dtriacontahedron = √3 /(1+ 2 /τ²) = 0.9819

    ddodecahedron / dtriacontahedron = √1+1/τ² (1+1/τ²) /(1+2/τ²) = 0.9210

    whereas, in case of rhombicosidodecahedron (named also "small rhombicosidodecahedron"), the icosahedral, dodecahedral and rhomb-triacontahedral faces take the shape of equilateral triangles, regular decagons and squares, respectively; the new values of the ratios between each pair of central distances are the following:

    ddodecahedron / dicosahedron =  (3√3 / [(τ²+2)√1+1/τ²] = 0.9571

    dicosahedron / dtriacontahedron = (1+ 2 /τ²) /√3 = 1.0184

    ddodecahedron / dtriacontahedron = 3/(τ²√1+1/τ²)  = 0.9748

    The first three rows of Fig.23 report the different combinations of each pair of polyhedra,  from which the Archimedean truncated icosidodecahedron and the rhombicosidodecahedron (on the left and on the right of the fourth row, respectively)  can be generated, as a consequence of the intersection  with the remaining third polyhedron (when the ratios between the respective central distances assume the aforementioned values).

    Generation of ARCHIMEDEAN TRUNCATED ICOSIDODECAHEDRON (left) and RHOMBICOSIDODECAHEDRON (right)
    by the combination of DODECAHEDRON, ICOSAHEDRON and RHOMBIC TRIACONTAHEDRON

    FIG.23a - Intermediate step given by the intersection of a DODECAHEDRON and an ICOSAHEDRON

    ddodecahedron /dicosahedron = (1+1/τ²) √1 +1/τ² /√3 = 0.9380

     ddodecahedron /dicosahedron = 3√3 / [(5-1/τ²)√1+1/τ² ]  = 0.9571

    FIG.23b - Intermediate step given by the intersection of an ICOSAHEDRON and a RHOMBIC TRIACONTAHEDRON

    dicosahedron /dtriacontahedron = √ 3/(1+2/τ²)= 0.9819

    dicosahedron /dtriacontahedron = (1+2/τ²)/√3 = 1.0184

    FIG.23c - Intermediate step given by the intersection of a DODECAHEDRON and a RHOMBIC TRIACONTAHEDRON

    ddodecahedron /dtriacontahedron = √ 1 +1/τ² (1+1/τ²)/(1+2/τ²) = 0.9210

    ddodecahedron /dtriacontahedron = 3/(τ²√1+1/τ² ) = 0.9748

    Fig.23d - ARCHIMEDEAN TRUNCATED ICOSIDODECAHEDRON and RHOMBICOSIDODECAHEDRON
    generated by the intersection with the third form of each previous pair of forms
    ddodecahedron /dicosahedron = 0.9380
    dicosahedron /dtriacontahedron = 0.9819
    ddodecahedron /dtriacontahedron = 0.9210
    ddodecahedron /dicosahedron = 0.9571
    dicosahedron /dtriacontahedron = 1.0184
    ddodecahedron /dtriacontahedron = 0.9748

    On the basis of the previous considerations, one does not have to draw the conclusion that the Archimedean truncated icosidodecahedron and the rhombicosidodecahedron are totally unrelated to the icosidodecahedron.
    In fact, given a unit value to the central distance of the rhomb-triacontahedral faces, if one denotes by:

  • ddodecahedron and dicosahedron
  • ddodecahedron and dicosahedron
  • ddodecahedron and dicosahedron

    the pairs of values of the central distances, relative to the dodecahedral and icosahedral faces, concerning respectively:

  • icosidodecahedron
  • Archimedean truncated icosidodecahedron
  • rhombicosidodecahedron

    it is possible to ascertain that:

    It follows that in a plot, which reports the value of ddodecahedron on the y-axis and the value of dicosahedron on the x-axis, the points representing every pair of values of such central distances, relatively to the three Archimedean polyhedra, are aligned along a line whose equation is:

    ddodecahedron = ddodecahedron + √3 /(1+1/τ² ) (dicosahedron - dicosahedron)

    Substituting in the equation ddodecahedron and dicosahedron with the values of their central distances, one obtains the relation:

    ddodecahedron =  (1/√1+1/τ² ) (√3 dicosahedron -1/τ )

    valid not only for the three quoted Archimedean polyhedra, but also for all the polyhedra identified by pairs of values (ddodecahedron , dicosahedron) included in the intervals:

    1/√1+1/τ²  < ddodecahedron <  (3/τ²)/√1+1/τ²)

    τ /√3 < dicosahedron < (1 +2/τ²) /√3

    As one can see in Fig.24, all these polyhedra include square rhomb-triacontahedral faces that have increasing dimensions, starting from the icosidodecahedron (where the square faces are absent, since the triacontahedron results exactly tangent to the vertices of the icosidodecahedron) up to the rhombicosidodecahedron, where the square faces reach the maximum dimensions: the length of their side (equal to 2/τ3 if dtriacontahedron = 1)  becomes equal to the length of the sides of the triangular and pentagonal faces.

    ICOSIDODECAHEDRON
    dicosahedron = τ /√3 = 0.9342

    dicosahedron = 0.94 dicosahedron = 0.95
    dicosahedron = 0.97

    ARCHIMEDEAN
    TRUNCATED ICOSIDODECAHEDRON
    dicosahedron = √3 /(1+ 2 /τ²) = 0.9819

    dicosahedron = 0.99
    dicosahedron = 1 dicosahedron = 1.01

    RHOMBICOSIDODECAHEDRON
    dicosahedron = (1 +2/τ²) /√3 = 1.0184

    Fig.24 - Series of polyhedra all characterized by square rhomb-triacontahedral faces, included between two Archimedean semiregular polyhedra: the icosidodecahedron (left upper corner), where the square faces are absent, being the triacontahedron  tangent to the vertices of the icosidodecahedron, and the rhombicosidodecahedron (right lower corner). In particular, hexagonal and decagonal faces are both regular in the Archimedean truncated icosidodecahedron (in the center of the figure).
    Whereas the central distance of the square rhomb-triacontahedral faces has always a unit value, the central distances of the dodecahedral faces can be obtained from the central distances of the icosahedral faces by the relation previously reported in the text:
    ddodecahedron = (1/√1+1/τ² ) (√3 dicosahedron  -1/τ )

    Concerning the dodecahedral and icosahedral faces belonging to the polyhedra of the series that are different from Archimedean polyhedra, they are respectively:

  • non-regular decagons, symmetric with respect to five reflection lines intersecating, in correspondence of the 5-fold rotation axis, in the center of every decagon
  • non-regular hexagons, symmetric with respect to three reflection lines intersecating, in correspondence of the 3-fold rotation axis,-
  • in the center of every hexagon

    RHOMBICOSIDODECAHEDRON AND DELTOIDAL HEXECONTAHEDRON

    In the rhombicosidodecahedron, Archimedean polyhedron consisting of:
  • twelve pentagonal faces coming from the dodecahedron
  • twenty triangular faces from the icosahedron
  • thirty square faces from the triacontahedron
  • each vertex turns out to be shared by four polygons: a regular pentagon, an equilateral triangle and two squares; as regards the axes of rotation, 5-fold, 3-fold and 2-fold axes are orthogonal to pentagonal, triangular and square faces, respectively.

    FIG.25 - Rhombicosidodecahedron and its stereographic projection (viewed along the crystallographic axis c)

    The polyhedron dual of the Archimedean rhombicosidodecahedron is the Catalan deltoidal hexecontahedron, (or deltoid-hexecontahedron), whose faces are named by indices deriving from the cyclic permutations, changes of sign included, of the 3 sets of indices:

    {τ+1/τ  τ  0}, {τ2 1/τ 1/τ}, {2 1 τ}

    It consists of sixty faces having the shape of a deltoid (or kite), namely a quadrangle having two pairs of adjacent sides that are congruent.

    In each deltoidal faces:
  • the ratio between the length of the sides is equal to 1+τ/3 = 1.5393
  • the two angles between each couple consisting of a short and a long side are equal and measure 86.97°
  • the angle between the couple of short sides measures 118.27°
  • the angle between the couple of long sides measures 67.78°

    A 3-fold axis and a 5-fold axis pass through the two vertices shared by the couple of short sides and long sides, respectively, whereas a 2-fold axis passes through each of the two other vertices of the face.

    FIG.26 - Catalan deltoidal hexecontahedron, dual of the rhombicosidodecahedron, and its stereographic projection (viewed along the crystallographic axis c)

    The (1+1/τ² 1 0) face of the Catalan deltoidal hexecontahedron makes an angle of 14.98° with the (τ 1/τ 0) face of the icosahedron and an angle of 22.39° with the (1τ 0) face of the dodecahedron. The corresponding face in every other generic deltoidal hexecontahedron has indices  (hk0) such that 1/τ < h/k < τ²; the possible orientations of all these faces are included in an overall angular interval 37.37° wide.

    FIG.27 - Forms whose faces have indices {hk0} such that the ratio h/k ranges between τ² and 1/τ
    a) icosahedron {τ 1/τ 0}
    b) deltoidal hexecontahedron
    {210}
    c) Catalan deltoidal hexecontahedron
    +1/τ  τ 0} dual of the Archimedean rhombicosidodecahedron
    d) deltoidal hexecontahedron
    {110}
    e) dodecahedron
    {1τ 0}

    These generic deltoidal hexacontahedra are the duals of particular polyhedra consisting, as a consequence of the values assumed by the central distances of their faces, in the combination of pentagonal dodecahedral faces, triangular icosahedral faces and rectangular faces (deriving from a rhombic triacontahedron), which become square only in case of the rhombicosidodecahedron: each vertex of such polyhedra is shared by a pentagon, a triangle and two rectangles (becoming squares in the only case of rhombicosidodecahedron).
    Fig.27 shows a series of polyhedra of this kind, describing the transformation of dodecahedron into icosahedron passing through the rhombicosidodecahedron; such transformation can be described, given a unit value to the central distance of the rhomb-triacontahedral faces, by a decrease of ddodecahedron from √1+1/τ² to 1/√1+1/τ² accompanied by an increase of dicosahedron from τ/√3 to √3/τ, according to the following relation:

     1+1/τ² ddodecahedron3τ  dicosahedron = 4

    DODECAHEDRON
    ddodecahedron = 1/√1+1/τ²
    dicosahedron > 3/τ = (1+1/τ4) τ /√3

    dicosahedron = (1+4/τ7) τ /√3 dicosahedron = (1+1/2τ3) τ /√3
    dicosahedron = (1+2/τ6) (τ /√3) RHOMBICOSIDODECAHEDRON
    dicosahedron = (1+ 2 /τ²)/√3 = (1+1/τ5) τ /√3
    ddodecahedron = 3/τ²√1+1/τ² = (1+1/τ4)/√1+1/τ
    ²
    dicosahedron = (1+2/τ7) τ /√3
    dicosahedron = (1+1/τ6) τ /√3 dicosahedron = (1+1/τ7) τ /√3 ICOSAHEDRON
    dicosahedron = τ /√3
    ddodecahedron > √1+1/τ²
    FIG.28 - Series of polyhedra, dual both of Catalan and  generic deltoidal hexacontahedra, describing the transformation of dodecahedron into icosahedron passing through an Archimedean polyhedron, the rhombicosidodecahedron: in every intermediate polyhedron all the vertices are shared by four polygons: a pentagon, a triangle and two rectangles becoming squares only in the rhombicosidodecahedron.
    For every intermediate polyhedron, given a unit value to the central distance of the rhomb-triacontahedral faces, the distance of the dodecahedral faces can be obtained, starting from the reported distance of the icosahedral faces, by the relation:
    ddodecahedron = (1/√1+1/τ² ) (4 -√3τ dicosahedron )

    Concerning the dual pair formed by the Catalan deltoidal hexecontahedron and the Archimedean rhombicosidodecahedron (and more in general the pairs made of a generic deltoidal hexecontahedron and its dual), the total number of faces and vertices corresponds to:

    F + V = 62 + 60 = 122

    Consequently the edges are 120 in both polyhedra.

    TRUNCATED ICOSIDODECAHEDRON AND HEXAKIS-ICOSAHEDRON

    In the Archimedean truncated icosidodecahedron, consisting of twelve decagonal faces of the dodecahedron, twenty hexagonal faces of the icosahedron and thirty square faces of the triacontahedron, each vertex is shared by three polygons: a regular decagon, a regular hexagon and a square; as regards the axes of rotation, 5-fold, 3-fold and 2-fold axes are orthogonal to decagonal, hexagonal and square faces, respectively.

    FIG.29 - Archimedean truncated icosidodecahedron and its stereographic projection (viewed along the crystallographic axis c)

    The polyhedron dual of the Archimedean truncated icosidodecahedron is the hexakis-icosahedron (named also dis-dyakis-triacontahedron and decakis-dodecahedron), Catalan polyhedron whose faces are named by indices deriving, in this case, from the cyclic permutations, changes of sign included, of the following five sets of indices:  

    +2/τ  1/τ²  1/τ²}, {τ² 1 2/τ²}, {2+1/τ²  τ  1/τ²}, {2  3/τ  1}, {τ+1/τ  2/τ  1+1/τ²}

    The hexakis-icosahedron consists of 120 faces having the shape of a scalene triangle (very similar to a right-angled triangle), whose angles measure 88.99°, 58.24°, 32.77°; differently from the aforementioned icosahedral polyhedra, being in a general position with respect to every symmetry operator, it does not include any face with an index equal to zero, namely parallel to a 2-fold axis.
     
    The ratios between the lengths of the sides of every triangular face have the following values:
    L1 /L2  = 2 (5-2τ)/3 = 1.1759 L2 /L3  = 3τ²/5 = 1.5708L1 /L3  = 2 (τ+3)/5 = 1.8472

    FIG.30
  • On the left: the Catalan hexakis-icosahedron, dual of the Archimedean truncated icosidodecahedron, visualized together with all the symmetry operators, fifteen mirror planes included
  • On the right: its stereographic projection (viewed along the crystallographic axis c)
  • In case of the pair of dual polyhedra formed by the Catalan hexakis-icosahedron and the Archimedean truncated icosidodecahedron, the sum of the number of faces and vertices corresponds to:

    F + V = 120 + 62 = 182
    Consequently the edges are 180 in both polyhedra.

    PENTAGONAL HEXECONTAHEDRON AND SNUB DODECAHEDRON

    The general forms relative to 235 and m35 icosahedral point groups are different, since in the only  m35  point group there is the presence of both the symmetry center and  fifteen mirror planes, each one orthogonal to a 2-fold axis.
    Whereas the general form of the m35 point group is, as already described, the hexakis-icosahedron, whose number of faces (multiplicity) is 120, the general form of the 235 point group is instead the pentagonal hexecontahedron (or pentagon-hexecontahedron), whose multiplicity is 60; it is the only single form with icosahedral symmetry lacking of both the fifteen mirror planes and the symmetry center: therefore it can present two chiral forms, named laevo (left)  and dextro (right), due to enantiomorphism.

      In a generic pentagonal hexecontahedron, the pentagonal faces, though are asymmetric, own two pairs of equal sides; a 3-fold axis and a 5-fold axis pass through the vertices placed between the two pairs of equal contiguous sides, whereas a 2-fold axis passes in the middle of the fifth side, different from the other sides.

    FIG.31 - Comparison between an asymmetric pentagonal face and the symmetric one belonging to the pentagonal hexecontahedron dual of the snub dodecahedron.
    As described in the text, an asymmetric pentagonal face belongs also to the particular pentagonal hexecontahedron whose intersection with icosahedron and dodecahedron gives rise to a snub dodecahedron when the ratio between:
  • the central distance of the dodecahedral faces
    and
  • the central distances relative to the faces of both the icosahedron and the pentagonal hexecontahedron
    are equal and assume the value of 0.9537
  • Even though the polyhedron is chiral, therefore lacking mirror planes on the whole, for a particular orientation of the faces it happens that each face of the pentagonal hexecontahedron is locally symmetric with respect to a mirror plane.
    As a consequence of the fact that in such a case also the fifth side has the same length of the pair of short sides, four of the angles of the pentagonal faces are equal (118.14°), whereas the fifth angle, the one between the couple of longest sides, is smaller than the others and measures 67.44°.

    FIG.32- Pentagonal hexecontahedron dual of the snub-dodecahedron and its stereographic projection (viewed along the crystallographic axis c)

    The Archimedean polyhedron dual of this particular pentagonal hexecontahedron is the snub dodecahedron; it consists in the intersection of three forms :

  • a dodecahedron
  • an icosahedron
  • a pentagonal hexecontahedron

    The position, with respect to the crystallographic reference axes, of the faces of this pentagonal

  • hexacontaedron, having the shape of an irregular pentagon, is different if compared with the position of the faces of the pentagonal hexacontaedron dual of the snub dodecahedron, which in turn has the shape of a non-regular even though symmetric pentagon.

    FIG.33 - View, along the crystallographic axis a, of:
  • the snub dodecahedron (on the left)
  • the asymmetric pentagonal hexecontahedron, whose faces belong to the snub dodecahedron (on the right)
  • an intermediate polyhedron (at the center), which can be described as a snub dodecahedron deprived of the icosahedron, or conversely as the result of the intersection of the asymmetric pentagonal hexecontahedron with the dodecahedron; in this case the faces deriving from the asymmetric pentagonal hexecontahedron become quadrilateral ed assume the shape of a deltoid (or kite)
  • In the snub dodecahedron the faces belonging to the single forms have such central distances that their intersection generates the 92 faces of the snub dodecahedron, all with the shapes of regular polyhedra: in detail, twelve pentagons and eighty triangles.
    The twelve pentagons and twenty of the triangles obviously come from the dodecahedron and the icosahedron, respectively, whereas the other sixty triangles come from the pentagonal hexacontrahedron, whose irregular pentagonal faces are drastically modified by the intersection with both dodecahedron and icosahedron.

    The faces of the icosahedron and pentagonal hexecontahedron have the same central distance: the value of the ratio between their common central distance and the one of the dodecahedral faces is 1.0486.

    Since for the dual pair snub dodecahedron-pentagonal hexecontahedron: F+V = 92+60 = 152, both polyhedra have 150 edges.

    FIG.34 - Snub-dodecahedron and its stereographic projection (viewed along the crystallographic axis c)

    Each vertex of the snub dodecahedron is shared among five faces: a pentagonal face and four equilateral triangular ones, three of which deriving from a pentagonal hexecontahedron and one from an icosahedron.
      In particular, each pentagonal face of the dodecahedron shares its five vertices with as many triangular faces of the icosahedron, whereas each triangular face of the icosahedron shares its three vertices with as many pentagonal faces of the dodecahedron.

    The positions of the rotation axes, with respect to every constituent form of the snub dodecahedron, are the following:

  • 5-fold axes orthogonal to the pentagonal faces of the dodecahedron
  • 3-fold axes orthogonal to the triangular faces of the icosahedron
  • 2-fold axes passing through the middle of edges shared between the pairs of triangular faces which derive from the pentagonal hexecontahedron.
  • As a valid alternative to snub dodecahedron, the name of snub icosidodecahedron has been proposed for this polyhedron, since both the pentagonal faces of the dodecahedron and the triangular faces of the icosahedron share each side with one side of a triangular face deriving from the pentagonal hexecontahedron, by which therefore they are bordered.
      In turn, each triangular face derived from the pentagonal hexecontahedron shares two of its sides with a pentagonal face of the dodecahedron and a triangular face of the icosahedron, whereas the third side is in common with another triangular face, deriving from the pentagonal hexecontahedron, with which it makes a pair.

      Since in the snub dodecahedron there are in total thirty pairs of these triangular faces, one can describe the snub dodecahedron as a distortion of the rhombicosidodecahedron (Fig.35), assuming that a pair of triangular equilateral faces replaces each square face of the triacontahedron, with a consequent rotation of the twelve pentagonal faces and the other twenty triangular faces around the 5-fold and 3-fold rotation axes orthogonal to every face.

    FIG.35 - Comparison between the rhombicosidodecahedron and the pair of chiral snub-dodecahedra (viewed along the crystallographic axis c)

    As alredy pointed out, there are chiral forms for both the pentagonal hexecontahedron and its dual, the snub dodecahedron; in Fig.36 the chiral pairs are shown in each row, the dual pairs in each column.

    FIG.36 - Pairs of chiral polyhedra (along each row) and dual polyhedra (along each column)
    In detail:
  • UPPER ROW: chiral snub dodecahedra
  • LOWER ROW: chiral pentagonal hexacontahedra
  • LEFT COLUMN: dual pair consisting of the left snub dodecahedron and the left pentagonal hexecontahedron
  • RIGHT COLUMN: dual pair consisting of the right snub dodecahedron and the right pentagonal hexecontahedron
  • In Fig.37 some particular forms, consisting in the intersection (for appropriate values of the central distances) of the dual pairs made of an Archimedean polyhedron and a Catalan polyhedron, are shown as example.

    icosidodecahedron
    & dual rhombic triacontahedron
     truncated dodecahedron
    & dual triakis-icosahedron
     truncated icosahedron
    & dual pentakis-dodecahedron

    rhombicosidodecahedron
    & dual deltoidal hexecontahedron

     truncated icosidodecahedron
    & dual hexakis-icosahedron

    snub dodecahedron
    & dual pentagonal hexecontahedron

    FIG.37 - Forms deriving from the intersection of the dual pairs made of an Archimedean semiregular polyhedron and a Catalan polyhedron

    In the first of the following summarizing Tables, the central distances of the icosahedral and dodecahedral faces belonging to semiregular Archimedean polyhedra are reported.

    Central distances of the icosahedrical and dodecahedrical faces in the semiregular Archimedean polyhedra
    Semiregular Archimedean polyhedra dicosahedron ddodecahedron
    Icosidodecahedron τ /√3 = 0.9342 1/√1+1/τ² = 0.8507
    Truncated icosahedron τ /√3 = 0.9342 (1/√1+1/τ²)[1+1/(τ4+1)] = 0.9590
    Truncated dodecahedron (τ /√3) [1+1/(τ53)] = 0.9951 1/√1+1/τ² = 0.8507
    Truncated Icosidodecahedron (τ /√3) [1+1/(τ5+2τ3)] = 0.9819 (1/√1+1/τ²)[1+1/(τ5+1)] = 0.9210
    Rhombicosidodecahedron (τ /√3) (1+1/τ5) = 1.0184 (1/√1+1/τ²)(1+1/τ4) = 0.9748
     Snub dodecahedron (τ /√3) (10τ+3)/(5τ+10) = 0.9905 (1/√1+1/τ²)(10τ+1)/(4τ+9) = 0.9446
    TABLE 2 - Values of the central distances of the icosahedral and dodecahedral faces for the different Archimedean polyhedra.
    Such values are expressed as a function of the central distances of the faces of icosidodecahedron
    (τ /√3 and 1/√1+1/τ²) and refer to a unit value of the central distance of the faces of the dual rhombic triacontahedron (present or tangent to the polyhedra).
    It must be remembered that in snub dodecahedron the faces of the pentagonal hexecontahedron and the faces of the icosahedron are equidistant from the center of the polyhedron.

    In the second Table, one can find the shapes assumed by the faces of Catalan polyhedra, dual of semiregular Archimedean polyhedra, and the relative geometric parameters (L indicates the length of the sides of the polygons).
     

    TABLE 3 - Shape and geometrical parameters of the faces belonging to the dual Catalan polyhedra

    Catalan polyhedra

    Shape of the faces Geometry of the faces Angles
    between the sides
    of each polygon
    Rhomb-triacontahedron rhombus ratio of the diagonals = τ = 1.618 2x 116.565° 
      2x   63.435°
    Pentakis-dodecahedron isosceles triangle L1 /L2 = 0.887
    Height of  the pentagonal pyramids = 0.251L2
    2x 55.69°
     1x  68.62°
    Triakis-icosahedron isosceles triangle L1/L2 = 0.580
    Height of  the triangular pyramids = 0.057L2
    2x   30.48°
    1x  19.04°
    Hexakis-icosahedron scalene triangle L1 /L2 = 2(5-2τ)/3 = 1.176
    L2 /L3 = 3τ²/5 = 1.571
    L1 /L3 = 2(τ+3)/5 = 1.847
    1x   88.99°
    1x  58.24°
    1x  32.77°
    Deltoidal hexecontahedron deltoid (or kite) L1 /L2 = 1+τ/3 = 1.539 2x  86.97°
    1x 118.27°
    1x  67.78°
    Pentagonal hexecontahedron non-regular symmetric pentagon
    with 2 equal long sides
    and  3 equal short sides
    L1 /L2 = 1.750 4x 118.14°
    1x  67.44°

    In the last Table,  the sets of {hkl} indices characterizing the Catalan polyhedra are reported together with the corresponding values of  h²+k²+l².  Taking into account that the values of √ h²+k²+l²  are proportional to the reciprocal of  the central distance dhkl of a (hkl) face, the sum  h²+k²+l² is constant for the set of indices of each Catalan polyhedron, since all its faces  have the same central distance.
    As an instance, the faces of the rhomb-triacontahedron derive from two kinds of indices  written as:
     {100} and {τ/2  1/2  1/2τ}
     in order to obtain the same unite value (equal to 1 in this particular case) for the sum  h²+k²+l².

    TABLE 4 - Sets of {hkl} indices and corresponding values of h²+k²+l² relative to the faces belonging to the Catalan polyhedra

    Catalan polyhedra

    Approximated values of the indices {hkl} Indices {hkl} as a function of τ  h²+k²+l²
    Rhomb-triacontahedron {100}
     {0.809  0.5  0.309}
    {100}
     {τ /2  1/2  1/2τ}
    1
    Pentakis-dodecahedron {1  4.854  0}
    {4.236  1.618  2}
    3.618  3.236  1}
    {1 3τ 0}
     {τ3 τ 2}
    {τ²+1 2τ 1}
    24.562 = 9τ+10
    Triakis-icosahedron {3.618  0.618  0}
     {2.618   2  1.618}
    {3.236 1.618  0.618}
    {τ²+1 1/τ  0}
    {τ² 2 τ}
    {2τ τ 1/τ}
    13.472 = 4τ + 7
    Hexakis-icosahedron {2.854  0.382  0.382}
     {2.618   1  0.764}
     {2.382  1.618  0.382}
     {2  1.854  1}
     {2.236  1.236  1.382}
    {τ+2/τ  1/τ²  1/τ²}
     {τ² 1 2/τ²}
     {2+1/τ²  τ  1/τ²}
     {2  3/τ  1}
     {τ+1/τ  2/τ  1+1/τ²}
    8.438 = 23- 9τ
    Deltoidal hexecontahedron {2.236  1.618  0}
     {2.618   0.618  0.618}
     {2 1 1.618}
    {τ+1/τ  τ  0}
     {τ2 1/τ 1/τ}
     {2 1 τ}
    7.618 = τ + 6
    Pentagonal hexecontahedron {10.096  1.593  1.805}
     {9.522  -3.096  2.733}
     {7.929  4.080  5.311}
     {8.407  6.016  0.929}
     {7.000 3.506  6.814}
      107.727

    As one can see, only in the case of the pentagonal hexecontahedron it has not been possible to express the indices as a simple function of the golden ratio τ.

    The values, given in the present work, of both the indices of the faces and the central distances of the polyhedra  have been obtained by means of a procedure that will be described in a next publication.

     

    COMBINATIONS OF FORMS WITH ICOSAHEDRAL SIMMETRY

     The icosahedral forms having a particular importance are those with minor multiplicity, namely dodecahedron, icosahedron and rhombic triacontahedron.
      As already seen, it is from their intersection (analogously to what happens in the cubic system for the three forms: cube, octahedron and rhombic dodecahedron), that the Archimedean polyhedra with icosahedral symmetry can be generated (except the snub dodecahedron, since it includes also the pentagonal hexecontahedron), for appropriate values of the central distances.
      The duals of these isogonal Archimedean polyhedra are the isohedral Catalan polyhedra characterizing the icosahedral symmetry (or the cubic symmetry, regarding the  other Catalan polyhedra, dual of Archimedean polyhedra deriving from the intersection of cube, octahedron and rhombic dodecahedron).

      The rounded polyhedron shown in Fig.38 results from the intersection of all the seven forms belonging to the m35 point group ( two Platonic polyhedra, the dodecahedron and the icosahedron, and five Catalan polyhedra) in the particular case in which the central distances of all the faces are equal.

    FIG.38 - Rounded composite polyhedron originated from all the seven forms belonging to the m35 point group:
  • dodecahedron (12 yellow faces)
  • icosahedron (20 red faces)
  • triacontahedron (30 green faces)
  • pentakis-dodecahedron (60 ochre faces)
  • deltoidal hexecontahedron (60 violet faces)
  • triakis-icosahedron (60 fuchsia faces)
  • hexakis-icosahedron (120 blue faces)
    for a total of 362 faces, in this particular case all equi-distant from the center of the resulting polyhedron
  • Its stereographic projection, showing clearly the localization of the symmetry elements, is reported in Fig.39.
    FIG. 39 - View along the crystallographic axis c and stereographic projection of the seven single forms belonging to the m35 point group

     Dodecahedron, icosahedron e triacontahedron, namely the three simplest forms having icosahedral symmetry, are progressively substituted in Fig.40 by pairs of forms derived from  three other polyhedra: triakis-icosahedron, pentakis-dodecahedron and deltoidal hexecontahedron, symmetrically placed with respect to the axes of rotation.

    FIG. 40 - Examples of icosahedral polyhedra consisting of forms in symmetric position with respect to the 2-fold, 3-fold and 5-fold rotation axes

    All the polyhedra having icosahedral symmetry can be considered to derive from the intersection of whichever number of forms (each of them made of faces at a different central distance), belonging to two different sets:

  • the first set includes dodecahedron, icosahedron and triacontahedron, characterized by faces in fixed position, since they are orthogonal to 2-fold, 3-fold and 5-fold axes, respectively
  • the second set includes all the other single forms previously described, that on the other hand can assume orientations different from the ones corresponding to the Catalan polyhedra, dual of the Archimedean polyhedra.


    235 and m35 point groups:
  • dodecahedron {1τ0}
  • triacontahedron {100}
  • generic triakis-icosahedron {410}
  • generic pentakis-dodecahedron {120}
  • m35 point group:
  • icosahedron {τ 1/τ 0}
  • triacontahedron {100}
  • generic deltoidal hexecontahedron {210}
  • generic hexakis-icosahedron {421}
  • 235 point group:
  • icosahedron {τ 1/τ 0}
  • dodecahedron {1τ0}
  • generic triakis-icosahedron {410}
  • generic pentagonal hexecontahedron {421}

  • FIG.41 - Composite forms belonging to icosahedral 235 and m35 point groups, each consisting in the intersection of four different polyhedral forms (identified, for simplicity, by only one of the sets of indices marking them)


    LIST OF PLATONIC AND ARCHIMEDEAN POLYHEDRA, AND THE CATALAN DUALS

      The number of faces F, edges E and vertices V relative to all the regular Platonic and semiregular Archimedean polyhedra are reported in Table 5; concerning their duals  (Platonic and Catalan polyhedra, respectively), the values of F and V are obviously interchanged, whereas the value of E is the same.
    TABLE 5 - Platonic and Archimedean polyhedra, and the dual Catalan polyhedra

     In conclusion, it is worth noting that, by an identical procedure, one can describe the Platonic and Archimedean polyhedra, as well as their dual Catalan polyhedra, belonging to both icosahedral and cubic symmetry, and consequently all the possible forms deriving from their combination.

    ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

    Many thanks are due to Fabio Somenzi for his precious help concerning the translation of the text.

    REFERENCES

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     vol.14, 567-570 (1976)
      [2] Rigault G. - Sul gruppo puntuale 235 - Estratti dagli Atti dell'Accademia delle Scienze di Torino, vol. 117(1983)

      [3] Loreto L., Farinato R., Pappalardo F. - Icosahedral Symmetry, Icosahedral Polyhedra and Indexing methods
       in Topics on contemporary crystallography and quasicrystals, special Issue of "Periodico di Mineralogia", Vol. LIX
       (1990) - L. Loreto and M. Ronchetti Editors
      [4] Cahn J.W. & Gratias D. - Indexing of Icosahedral Quasiperiodic Crystals - J. Mater. Res., vol.1, 13-26 (1986)
      [5] Hahn T. & Klapper K. - 10.1.4 Non crystallographic point group in "International Tables for Crystallography"
       Volume A: Space-Group Symmetry,
    796 (2005) - Theo Hahn Editor
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       No.1, 121-133 (2002)

    LINKS