Message #124

From: Nathanael Berglund <berglund@math.gatech.edu>
Subject: "Physical models" of Rubik’s Cube (pictures)
Date: Thu, 14 Apr 2005 13:12:25 -0400

Perhaps a few pictures are in order, since equations don’t always give a
geometric intuition of what’s going on. There should be two gifs
attached to this message.
The first is an animation that shows how we take a sphere out of the
center of the Rubik’s Cube. Initially it is divided into thirds in each
direction by equally spaced cutting planes, but then we adjust the
cutting planes. We then take the pieces outside the red sphere (cut
with the initial equally spaced cutting planes) and reattach them to the
red sphere. The pieces of the red sphere along the principle axes we
replace with cylinders. Finally, the center piece is replaced with a
mechanism to hold the cylinders in place and allow them to rotate (not
shown here). The second picture shows the result, with some portions
removed to see what’s going on.

– Nathanael Berglund