Forms of the Plane · 3D
Fruit of Life in 3D
Twenty-five spheres on twelve rays
The Fruit of Life keeps the circles of the Flower that do not overlap, two out along each of six rays. In the densest packing of spheres there are twelve rays, and two spheres on each give twenty-five that never overlap. The flat Fruit is the middle layer.
- Spheres
- 25
- Rays
- 12
Turn it in your hands, strike it to hear the chord of its edges, slice it with a plane or lift it into four dimensions.
Facts
- Cut through the middle layer and you get exactly the flat Fruit of Life: no other sphere reaches that plane.
- The twelve rays point to the corners of the cuboctahedron, the vector equilibrium.
- Every centre is a point of the Flower of Life’s sphere packing, so the 3D Fruit sits inside the 3D Flower just as the flat Fruit sits inside the flat Flower.
Across the dimensions
- Equator of 24-CellIn four dimensions the twelve rays become twenty-four, pointing to the corners of the 24-cell.
- Its slice Fruit of LifeThe six rays of the plane become twelve in space: twenty-five spheres, none overlapping, with the flat Fruit as their middle layer.
