1/8/2024 0 Comments Fractal lightning scars![]() ![]() Three common examples include the respiratory, nervous, and circulatory systems. In the bodies of animals many complex organ systems are shaped like fractals. Fractal Systems: Respiratory, Nervous, and Circulatory In addition, it allows the plant to grow from simple instructions. The shape allows the plant to operate at different scales and maximizes the surface area that the leaves can utilize to harvest and process sunlight. Just like with trees and other natural systems, the fractal shape allows for the efficient delivery and distribution of nutrients. This self-similarity sometimes gives cloud systems a fractal shape. Just like other natural systems, clouds can appear self-similar where one small area of the cloud resembles the larger cloud. The air also contains varying levels of moisture, and condensation happens spontaneously forming clouds. These turbulent currents are often chaotic and unpredictable. As the differential returns to equilibrium, air flows from the hot spots to the cool, causing wind and other air currents. In the atmosphere, the heating and cooling of different areas by the sun causes there to be a heat differential between different parts of the atmosphere. ![]() Want to know more about this exciting area of artwork that uses fractal patterns for woodworking? Check out my post about the invention of Fractal wood burning! Turbulence and Fractal Cloud Shapes This pattern is also visible in Fractal Wood Burning (or Lichtenberg Burning) and electricity is used to burn a beautiful pattern in a wooden item. Often, the electrical discharge in someone who is struck by lightning can leave a scar or tattoo called a Lichtenberg figure, which creates a fractal pattern. This is why so many rivers resemble blood vessels and form similar shapes.Ī Lichtenberg figure is an electric discharge pattern in branching form which appears on the surface or internally in insulating materials. Eventually, the river often empties into an ocean and forms a river delta which also follows a fractal pattern. First, the river is formed from many lakes, streams, and estuaries emptying into one central river that contains water from many source locations. Rivers are often fractal in their shapes on both ends of the river. Examples of Fractals in Nature How Is A River A Fractal? Some examples of this efficient delivery system include blood vessels, lung airways, root systems delivering water, fern leaves maximizing sun exposure, and river systems like the Nile which flood and deliver sediment to the surrounding farming communities. Since the shape originates in a large central instance like an artery and flows outward into progressively smaller versions of itself, the nutrients and resources are efficiently spread and delivered to where they are needed. By encoding simple, self-similar, and repeating shapes, the instructions for a complex organ like a circulatory system for delivering blood can be stored in a compact set of instructions.Ī second reason natural shapes follow fractal patterns is that they allow for the efficient delivery and transportation of nutrients and resources. The instructions for the cell are contained in the DNA and each carries out its instructions during its lifespan. These cells grow, copy their DNA, and divide. ![]() All living organisms originally grow from a small number of cells. ![]() So why do plants and other natural shapes follow one of these patterns? The secret comes from DNA. If you are interested in examples of other fractal drawing patterns, check out my post about how to draw fractal shapes by hand! As the forks get smaller and smaller, the whole shape might resemble a natural tree. On each of the forks, that rule can be repeated forever. For example, a rule might be: ‘draw a line that forks into two lines’. Fractals and the Fibonacci Sequence in Natureįractal shapes are composed from just a few simple rules.Fractal Systems: Respiratory, Nervous, and Circulatory.Lightning and Other Electrical Fractal Shapes.Fractal Coastlines: How Long is the Coast?. ![]()
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