Photo Left: I found this flower back in WV, where I just moved. It's the familiar Queen-Anne's-Lace or Wild Carrot. I held the dead flourescent up against the sky giving it contrast. It was laying on the lawn near my apartment, apparently dead and dried up from the winter freeze. It's one of nature's fractals or examples of "self-similarity". Read on below to find out more. Queen-Anne's-Lace and Nature Fractals This familiar flower is a wonderful example of a fractal. Fractals are an interesting branch of mathematics exhibiting self-similarity. We learn more about nature's fractals in my MathArt class. Look at photo above closely of the dried Queen-Anne's-Lace. What "self-similar" properties do you notice? Admire the outline of the entire flower and then look at the smaller flowers on the plant? How are they alike? That's a wonderful and beautiful example of a fractal! I have been on a journey looking at patterns in nature now since 2003. An inspiring wellness teacher named Don Tolman showed me how to look for the five commons patterns found in nature. Fractals or the lightning bolt pattern is one of the patterns. The others are the hexagon, spiral, circular patterns ( a category in themselves) and squares. There are more than five patterns in nature, but, those are the five most prevalent ones. Photo Left: Icy shallows near crab apple trees at my parents in Minnesota. Here is another view of fractals. Check out the cracks in the ice. They're veined, which means they are fractals in ice. I thought the brown tinge to the ice was unusual. Perhaps from the tannin in the tree bark had given the ice cracks their brownish color? Photo Right: Here's a closeup view of the cracked ice fractal pattern. You can see the coppery tinged cracks. The cracked ice is also raised a bit from the smoother ice beside the cracks. Fascinating! Photo Left: Here's another common sight in the winter - leafless branches. And, you guessed it, these are fractals too. It's a crab apple tree with some of the apples still on the tree. Photo Right: Here is one of my favorite winter photos of the season! This is a great example of animal signs. Guess "who dunnit"? This is another view of one of the crab apple trees. I love how the crab apples are more ground up on the inside of the tree hollow than the outside ones. Someone was BUSY making a dried up crab apple meal. What nice storage for the winter! I invite you to try a nature in winter fractal hike and see what fractal patterns you could find in and around your sit spot. It's a lot of fun and a more challenging treasure hunt. It's a great activity to get outdoors in these cold months for those of us in the northern hemisphere! Have fun, take photos, videos, write a blog or journal entry and share it with the class!
0 Comments
Your comment will be posted after it is approved.
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorI'm Natureglo, founder of Natureglo's eScience! I'm an avid nature lover, photographer, hiker, full time camper and an online teacher. Categories
All
|