WOLFRAM|DEMONSTRATIONS PROJECT

Repulsionhedra and the Thomson Problem

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number of particles
4
show polyhedron
show sphere
force strength
0.5
change in time
0
sphere opacity
0.25
sphere color
point of view
0
When repulsive particles are placed inside a ball, they settle into very interesting configurations to maximize stability. The polyhedra that they generate are approximations to solutions to the Thomson problem: to determine the optimal (lowest-energy) configurations of particles on the surface of a sphere. (In Thomson's "plum pudding" model of the atom at the time, the particles were negative electrons immersed in a positive sphere.)