Rubik's Cube Mechanism
Rubik's Cube Mechanism
This Demonstration simulates the mechanism of a 3×3×3 Rubik's cube.
A Rubik's cube consists of 26 movable cubelets and a central core. There are six center cubelets, eight corner cubelets, and 12 edge cubelets. The central core holds the six center cubelets together and forms the three axes of rotation. Rotations are done per face (front, back, left, right, bottom, and top), and each face groups one center, four corner, and four edge cubelets.
The corner and edge cubelets have extensions that keep them connected to the center cubelets and the core so that each face can rotate as a unit.
Inspect the inner workings of Rubik's cube by expanding the entire cube and adjusting the opacities. Select the face to be twisted by the color of its center.