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Explanaria - Groups & Clear Crystal Conundrums

explanaria.github.io · 394 words · saved by 1 readers

A multifaceted intro to group theory

This is a crystal of kyanite. And this is a crystal of andalusite. Andalusite and kyanite might look different, but they're actually made of the exact same atoms, in the exact same ratio: just aluminum, silicon, and oxygen. The difference is how they're arranged. If we zoomed in to see the aluminum, silicon, and oxygen atoms, kyanite would look like this... and andalusite would look like this. I'm only showing a few thousand atoms here, but these patterns continue for hundreds of millions of atoms. It's quite pretty. But, I want to ask: how would you describe the way these atoms…

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