Math Monday: Light Stick Construction

Craft & Design Science
Math Monday: Light Stick Construction

By George Hart for the Museum of Mathematics

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Inexpensive light sticks can be held together with rubber bands to make glowing geometric structures. Here’s a construction based on the truncated dodecahedron, with a tetrahedron over each triangle. Assembling it is a fun group activity.

The design called for 170 light sticks, including the twenty which stick out from the tetrahedra.

It came out pretty much according to the plan, with some strings to suspend it from the ceiling.

See a brief Light Stick Construction video

More:
See all of George Hart’s Math Monday columns

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Gareth Branwyn is a freelance writer and the former Editorial Director of Maker Media. He is the author or editor of over a dozen books on technology, DIY, and geek culture. He is currently a contributor to Boing Boing, Wink Books, and Wink Fun. His free weekly-ish maker tips newsletter can be found at garstipsandtools.com.

View more articles by Gareth Branwyn
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