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
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FIG.1- The five regular convex polyhedra (or
Platonic solids), coloured in order to evidence the single faces |
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TETRAHEDRON |
CUBE |
OCTAHEDRON |
DODECAHEDRON |
ICOSAHEDRON |
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:
Two further Archimedean polyhedra, whose faces belong to different sets of three regular polygons:
The duals of all the previous Archimedean polyhedra are the following Catalan polyhedra:
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:
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 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.
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FIG.5 - Couple of dual polyhedra: Catalan pentagonal hexecontahedron (on the left)
and Archimedean snub dodecahedron (on the right)
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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:
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.
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Triacontahedron | Icosahedron | Deltoid-hexecontahedron | Hexakis-icosahedron |
FIG.6
- Pair of polyhedra deriving from the intersection of the same four forms:
The relative extent of the four forms changes in the two polyhedra, as a consequence of the variation of each central distance. |
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:
(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:
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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.
| |||
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:
The detailed examination, also by the
stereographic projection, of the reciprocal orientation of the rotation axes reveals that:
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.
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.
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 icosahedron can also be
considered as the result of the intersection of five tetrahedra:
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,
For example, eight of the twenty sets of three indices naming the faces of
the icosahedron are derived from
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
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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. |
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.
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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
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.
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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:
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.
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FIG.13 -
Icosidodecahedron and its stereographic projection (viewed along the crystallographic axis c) |
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 = 1.10 | ddodecahedron = 1.05 |
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ddodecahedron = 1 | ARCHIMEDEAN |
ddodecahedron = 0.921 |
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ddodecahedron = 0.9 | ddodecahedron = 0.87 | ICOSIDODECAHEDRON ddodecahedron = 1/√1+1/τ² = 0.8565 |
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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:
Whereas the central distance of the icosahedral faces is constant in every polyhedron and equal to |
When the ratio between the central distances of dodecahedral and icosahedral faces
assumes the following value:
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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}
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:
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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:
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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: 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:
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
DODECAHEDRON (ddodecahedron= 1/√1+1/τ²)
TRUNCATED BY ICOSAHEDRON | ||
DODECAHEDRON |
dicosahedron = 1.05 | dicosahedron = 1.03 |
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dicosahedron = 1 | ARCHIMEDEAN |
dicosahedron = 0.97 |
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dicosahedron = 0.96 | dicosahedron = 0.95 | ICOSIDODECAHEDRON |
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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:
Whereas the central distance of the dodecahedral faces is constant in every polyhedron and equal to |
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.
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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:
The Catalan
triakis-icosahedron can be supposed to derive from an icosahedron, substituting
each face with a trigonal pyramid having the following height
H:
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.
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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:
The heights of the trigonal pyramids, relative to all the different triakis-icosahedra, range between:
Also in this case, if the height of the pyramids exceeds the value of Hmax, the polyhedron wouldn't be convex anymore.
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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 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:
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,
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).
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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 |
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 |
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:
the pairs of values of the central distances, relative to the dodecahedral and icosahedral faces, concerning respectively:
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
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 = 0.94 | dicosahedron = 0.95 |
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dicosahedron = 0.97 | ARCHIMEDEAN |
dicosahedron = 0.99 |
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dicosahedron = 1 | dicosahedron = 1.01 |
RHOMBICOSIDODECAHEDRON |
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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: |
Concerning the dodecahedral and icosahedral faces belonging to the polyhedra of the series that are different from Archimedean polyhedra, they are respectively:
in the
center of every hexagon
RHOMBICOSIDODECAHEDRON AND DELTOIDAL HEXECONTAHEDRON
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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:
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:
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.
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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.
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a) icosahedron
{τ 1/τ 0} b) deltoidal hexecontahedron {210} c) Catalan deltoidal hexecontahedron {τ+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:
DODECAHEDRON |
dicosahedron = (1+4/τ7) τ /√3 | dicosahedron = (1+1/2τ3) τ /√3 |
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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/τ² |
dicosahedron = (1+2/τ7) τ /√3 |
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dicosahedron = (1+1/τ6) τ /√3 | dicosahedron = (1+1/τ7) τ /√3 | ICOSAHEDRON dicosahedron = τ /√3 ddodecahedron > √1+1/τ² |
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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: |
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:
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,
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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:
{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}
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 = 1.5708 | L1 /L3 = 2 (τ+3)/5 = 1.8472 |
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:
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
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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: and 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°.
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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 :
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
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 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.
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.
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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:
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.
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FIG.35 - Comparison between the
rhombicosidodecahedron and the pair of chiral
snub-dodecahedra (viewed along the crystallographic |
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.
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.
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icosidodecahedron & dual rhombic triacontahedron |
truncated dodecahedron & dual triakis-icosahedron |
truncated icosahedron & dual pentakis-dodecahedron |
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rhombicosidodecahedron |
truncated icosidodecahedron |
snub dodecahedron |
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.
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). Catalan polyhedra
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.
Catalan polyhedra
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.
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/(τ5+τ3)]
= 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
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.
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 = 0.251L22x 55.69°
1x 68.62°
Triakis-icosahedron
isosceles triangle
L1/L2 = 0.580
Height of the triangular pyramids = 0.057L22x 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 = 1.8471x 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°
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.
Approximated values of the indices {hkl}
Indices {hkl}
as a function of τ
h²+k²+l²
Rhomb-triacontahedron
{100}
{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
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.
Its stereographic projection, showing clearly the localization of the symmetry
elements, is reported in Fig.39.
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|
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.
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FIG. 40 -
Examples of icosahedral polyhedra consisting of forms in symmetric position
with respect to the 2-fold, 3-fold and |
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:
LIST OF PLATONIC AND ARCHIMEDEAN POLYHEDRA, AND THE CATALAN DUALS
235 and m35 point groups:
m35 point group:
235 point group:
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. 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.
Many thanks are due to Fabio Somenzi for his precious help concerning the translation of the text.
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- Icosahedral Symmetry, Icosahedral Polyhedra and Indexing methods
in Topics on contemporary
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(1990) - L. Loreto
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