biblically accurate rock
pyrite:
I doubt very many science teachers would have said that
I’ve had multiple teachers, including at least one science teacher, say nature doesn’t do straight lines.
It was just as baffling then as it is now. Especially since I’ve always had a fascination with pyrite.
Doesn’t quartz also do straight lines pretty much always?
Snow is just straight lines
Every crystal or crystal like structure does straight line no?
Diamond looks to be pretty jagged/rough, but I guess even it does have some straight lines on it.
Based on the two large mostly clear crystals from different parts of the world I’m (figuratively) holding, “yes” would be my answer. Although most quartz I come across in the wild is the cloudy chunky kind.
Even snowflakes are all straight lines! I remember seeing close-up images of them in the science magazines we had in school.
It’s actually true. Right angles are a theoretical construct, that don’t occur in nature. There is always some degree of variance baked into reality that violate theoretical absolutes.
It’s actually false. I know this because I passed physical chemistry.
So, when you measure a right angle in physical chemistry, you get exactly 90 deg with zero decimal points? That’s amazing.
And also impossible. There’s always a variance.
You need to learn yourself some molecular geometry. An octahedral molecule forms a perfect right angle due to its bonds. Sulfur Hexafloride (SF6) is one of those molecules. So yes, nature makes perfect right angles.
Are we talking “in a lab”, or “in nature”. Because I may not have studied molecular geometry, but I know a lot about metallurgy. And “in nature”, every compound contains impurities.
“in a lab”, or “in nature”
This distinction is meaningless for the purpose of this conversation
They said octahedral molecules, those are common enough that I think you find several kinds of them in mineral water.
compound
Compounds are not molecules
A quare is defined as having four right angles. By your definition of right angle, you’ve never drawn a square in your life.
Stop being a pedant and admit that you learned something today.
I’ve never drawn a “perfect” square…and neither has anyone else. There will always be some deviation from a perfect 90 degree angle, except in theory. Even if that deviation is infinitesimally small, it still exists when an angle is measured accurately.
You are the one who brought up “perfect”. That’s not even the claim in the OP, so I’m not clear what point you even think you are making.
That’s what defines a right angle. When one line stands against another line, so that the angles on either side of the first line are equal, or “right” to each other. In mathematical terms those angles would have to both be exactly 90 degrees in order to be “equal”. Even the slightest difference between them, and they are not considered “right” angles anymore.
This is why the meme above says, “My science teacher: right angles don’t exist in nature”. Because no naturally occurring structures are exactly 90 degrees. Ever. There is always some tiny variance that breaks that theoretical requirement.
The person I responded to said, “I doubt very many science teachers would have said that”, but they do. At least at more advanced levels. It’s a common teaching parable that opens the conversation about the inherent “fuzziness” of reality. Even the most accurate measurements will always have a certain amount of baked-in uncertainty.
Reality itself is messy. There are no true right angles. No perfectly parallel lines. No truly flat surfaces. The best you can ever do is get ridiculously close.
I mean, at an atomic level, could a Pythagorean triple not make a right triangle?
“In theory”, if one of those angles equals exactly 90 deg. But “in reality”, nothing will ever truly measure exactly 90 deg. Best you’re going to get is 90.0000-something. Reality doesn’t work in absolutes…only approximates. Some are more accurate than others, but none are perfect.
Reminds me of that Rick and Morty episode with the perfectly level floor. At a certain point in reality you also would need perfect tools to check if something is perfect. Measuring the stick so to speak. I believe it is theoretically possible to get perfect angles, but keeping it that way might be a challenge outside of a vacuum. As a thought experiment, if you take your arm, hold it straight, then bend it, for 1 picosecond or something, wouldn’t the angle of your arm be exactly 180.000~°, 90.000~°, etc, as it is bending?
Notice the bevels and chamfers. Not as many right angles as you’d think. Just the illusion
Everything is a question of scale, isn’t it?
Sure, if you zoom in enough nothing is square / level. The question is what order of approximation are we interested in?
- a 45 year old naked eye?
- magnifying glass
- microscope
- …
Meanwhile, pyrite is disregarded as a fool AND forgotten.
