A unique crystal?

Geometry Level 4

In the mines of Geometria, a wonderful piece of crystal has been found. It is formed like a perfect polyhedron with the following properties:

  • It is convex (and has non-zero volume).
  • All edges have the same length: 1 cm.
  • All faces are congruent with an area of sin α cm 2 , \sin \alpha \text{ cm}^2, where 0 < α < 9 0 . 0 < \alpha < 90^\circ.
  • There are 6 faces and 12 edges in total.

What is the largest value of α \alpha such that these conditions determine the polyhedron uniquely?

Note: These are strict inequalities in the domain of values which α \alpha lies in.


The answer is 60.

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1 solution

Antoine G
Aug 26, 2018

From the information given the polyhedron hast the same structure as a cube, but the angles are not all 90°. Since the edges all have the same length, it follows that the faces are rhombic. Given the value of the area, the angles of the rhombi are α \alpha and 180 α 180 - \alpha . It turns out one can indeed assemble such a solid (and they are actually present in some natural crystals):

You can either assemble 3 rhombi together at a vertex with their acute angle and the other 3 likewise and then paste them together (as in the image above). Or you can assemble the 3 rhombi together at a vertex with their obtuse angle and the other 3 likewise, and then paste them together.

Notice that there is a condition on the obtuse angle in order to assemble them at a vertex: the sum of the angles must be less than 360° (you cannot assemble 3 angles at a vertex in Euclidean space if their sum surpasses 360°). So if the 3 obtuse angles sum up to 360° or more, then there is only one possibility. This means 3 ( 180 α ) 360 180 α 120 60 α 3 \cdot (180 - \alpha) \geq 360 \iff 180 - \alpha \geq 120 \iff 60 \geq \alpha So the largest angle α \alpha for which those conditions define a unique crystal is 60° \fbox{60°} .

Note: at α = 90 ° \alpha = 90° the polyhedron is again unique since then 180 α = α 180-\alpha = \alpha (it's a cube). But this value was excluded from the range.

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