Google – AFP, 17 July 2013
![]() |
According
to a new study, honeycomb cells do not start out as
hexagons but as circles
(AFP/File, Juan Mabromata)
|
PARIS,
France — For thousands of years, thinkers have marvelled at the feat of
engineering that is the honeycomb.
Each waxy
cell is a perfect hexagon, its six wafer-thin sides providing not only strength
to the honeycomb structure but also the smartest way to store honey.
"By virtue
of a certain geometrical forethought... (bees) know that the hexagon is greater
than the square and the triangle and will hold more honey for the same
expenditure of material in constructing each," wrote a 4th-century Greek
geometer, Pappus of Alexandria.
For Charles
Darwin, the honeycomb was "absolutely perfect in economising labour and
wax."
But how do
bees do it?
The answer,
according to a new study, is that the cells do not start out as hexagons but as
circles.
They
gradually form into hexagons by a subtle flow of the wax, which is turned
semi-molten by the heat from a special class of worker bee.
The
solution is proposed by a trio of scientists in Britain and China, led by
Bhushan Karihaloo of Cardiff University.
They looked
at what happens after waxy flakes are pulled from the bodies of foraging bees
by specialist bees tasked with building the honecomb.
Working
furiously, these bees operate side by side in adjacent and opposite circular
tubes, which they build around themselves.
They knead
the flakes and tamp them into place near the triple junctions of their tiny
six-mm (quarter-inch) cylinders.
Heat
provided by the workers and the physical properties of the wax then do what's
necessary.
At a
temperature of around 45 degrees Celsius (113 degrees Fahrenheit), the wax
starts to flow slowly as an elastic, viscous liquid.
At the
junction, surface tension causes the wax to stretch like toffee. It gradually
pops upwards, forming a tiny point that becomes an "angle" of the
hexagon.
During the
process, the cell's walls are continually stretched. Ultimately, the walls of
adjoining cells fuse and become straightened, forming a perfect hexagon.
Even if the
riddle may have been solved through a combination of physics and maths, the
scientists are keen to pay tribute to the insects themselves.
"We
cannot... ignore, nor can we not marvel at the role played by the bees in this
process by heating, kneading and thinning the wax exactly where needed,"
says the study, published in Britain's Journal of the Royal Society Interface.
No comments:
Post a Comment
Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.