Fractals in Nature

A project submitted
in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of
Bachelor of Design/Engineering

by
MAYANK SONI (AU17B1007)
PIYUSH AGRAWAL (AU17A1075)
HARSHIT KARIR (AU17A1060)
AMAN SONI (AU17A1041)

Supervised by
Dr. MUTHUPANDIAN CHERALATHAN

First Semester 2017 – 2018

 ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
In performing our assignment, we had to take the help and guideline of some respected persons,
who deserve our greatest gratitude. The completion of this assignment gives us much Pleasure.
We would like to show our gratitude Dr. Muthupandian Cheralathan for giving us a good
guideline for assignment throughout numerous consultations. We would also like to expand our
deepest gratitude to all those who have directly and indirectly guided us in writing this
assignment.

Many people, especially our classmates and team members itself, have made valuable comment
suggestions on this proposal which gave us the inspiration to improve our assignment. We thank
all the people for their help directly and indirectly to complete our assignment.

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 ABSTRACT

Fractals are the most important part of everyday life. Fractals are used in every aspect of our
life, starting from our body to patterns in which trees grow. We took fractals as our project as we
found out that Benoit Mandelbrot who has a well-known name in this area sees the world in a
different way. Fractals are more of a pictorial representation then formulas.
We found fractals really interesting as this hidden dimension of repeating endless patterns can
do wonders in real life.
In this project, we showed the fractals in real life and its applications used in different industries
such as textile designing, medical industry etc.

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Table of Contents
List of figures …………………………………………………………………. v
1. Introduction …………………………………………………………...1
2. Literature review………………………………………………………3
2.1 Wireless communication……………………………………...4
2.2 Textile industry……………………………………………….5
2.3 Medical industry………………………………………………6
2.4 Nature…………………………………………………………7
2.5 Stock market…………………………………………………...8
2.6 Movies and animation…………………………………………9
2.7 Astronomy……………………………………………………...10
3. Methodology……………………………………………………………11
3.1 Making of tree……………………………………………………..12
3.2 Making of lamp…………………………………………………….13
3.3 Installation of light bulb…………………………………………….13
4 Result and analysis ………………………………………………………….14
5 Conclusion ……………………………………………………………….….15
References ………………………………………………………………16

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 List of figures
Figure 1.1………………………………………………………………………………1
Figure 1.2………………………………………………………………………………2
Figure 2.1.1…………………………………………………………………………….4
Figure 2.2.1…………………………………………………………………………….5
Figure 2.2.2…………………………………………………………………………….5
Figure 2.3.1…………………………………………………………………………….6
Figure 2.4.1…………………………………………………………………………….7
Figure 2.5.1…………………………………………………………………………….8
Figure 2.5.2…………………………………………………………………………….8
Figure 2.6.1…………………………………………………………………………….9
Figure 2.6.2…………………………………………………………………………….9
Figure 2.7.1…………………………………………………………………………….10
Figure 3.1 ……………………………………………………………………………...11
Figure 4.1………………………………………………………………………………14

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1. Introduction
Fractal is a curve or geometrical figure, each part of which has the same statistical
character as the whole. They are useful in modeling structures (such as snowflakes) in
which similar patterns recur at progressively smaller scales, and in describing partly
random or chaotic phenomena such as crystal growth, the growth of trees and galaxy
formation etc.

A fractal is a never-ending pattern. Fractals are infinitely complex patterns that are self-
similar across different scales. They are created by repeating a simple process over and
over in an ongoing feedback loop.

Fractals are important to understanding nowadays as it is used in every aspect of life and
allow us to predict the near future. Fractals have contributed to every industry wheater its
medical industry, wireless communication industry, textile industry or the stock market.
Fractals are used everywhere and show us how we can understand that thing by observing
the hidden repeating patterns in it.

Fig. 1.1

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Our group has decided to start the project by doing research on fractals. We wanted to
show the importance of these hidden repeating endless patterns has contributed to our
society in such a way that no one can imagine. Fractals is not a concept but it’s a way of
seeing the life in a pattern and with which we can understand the world and even can
predict its near future. Fractals are use to describe the branching of the tree leaves and
plants, the sparse filling of water the vapor that forms clouds, the random erosion that
carves mountain faces, the jaggedness of coastlines and bark, and many more examples
in nature.

In our project and prototype, we have tried to show fractals in real life by depicting its
pattern in various industries. In our project, we have decided to make a tree as a fractal
representative on which lamps of different fractals are hanging.

Fig. 1.2

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2. Literature review

We have observed fractals in various ways in varied situations. In our project, we have also tried
to discuss the use of fractals in different industries and in different aspects of life. Fractals are not
just complex shapes and pretty pictures generated by computers. Anything that appears random
and irregular can be a fractal. Fractals permeate our lives, appearing in places as tiny as the
membrane of a cell and as majestic as the solar system. Fractals are the unique, irregular patterns
left behind by the unpredictable movements of the chaotic world at work. Fractals play an
important role in our lives and we need to observe it in order to grow in any field because we
have observed fractals in –
2.1 Wireless communication
2.2 Textile industry
2.3 Medical industry
2.4 Nature
2.5 Stock market
2.6 Movies and animation
2.7 Astronomy

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2.1 Fractals in wireless communication
Fractals have contributed in the sector of wireless communication in such a way that it has
changed the way we communicate. At the time when mobile phones were introduced to the
world and everyone was aware of its existence, telecommunication industries have more to
offer to their customers such as Bluetooth, Wi-Fi, walkie talky etc, but all of these work on
different frequency and they can’t add antenna for everything because then the mobile phone
would not be handy and it will be very difficult to handle. At that time fractal antennas were
introduced. A fractal antenna is an antenna that uses a fractal, self-similar design to maximize
the length or increase the perimeter (on inside sections or the outer structure), of material that
can receive or transmit electromagnetic radiation within a given total surface area or volume.

Such fractal antennas are also referred to as multilevel and space-filling curves, but the key
aspect lies in their repetition of a motif over two or more scale sizes, or "iterations". For this
reason, fractal antennas are very compact, multiband or wideband, and have useful
applications in cellular telephone and microwave communications. Here, each line of copper
is just a small fraction of a wavelength. Normally standard antennas have to be "cut" for the
frequency for which they are to be used—and thus the standard antennas only work well at
that frequency.This makes the fractal antenna an excellent design for wideband and multiband
applications. In addition, the fractal nature of the antenna shrinks its size, without the use of
any components, such as inductors or capacitors.

Fig. 2.1.1

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2.2 Fractals in the textile industry
Since the mid 70's, the theory of Fractal Geometry was developed by Benoit Mandelbrot
who used the word "fractal" to describe irregularly-shaped objects in nature. The study of
fractals has expanded so greatly in such a short time that it is used in over 200 fields of art
and design as well as mathematics. In industry, fractals are used to compress images by
reducing data redundancies, creating a perfect platform for textile design.

In late 1970’s a textile designer Jhane Barnes used fractals in her designs which were
bushfire at that time because what she was offering to her customers was really unique at
that time and was not possible to make it with hand. By the 1980's, pictures of the
Mandelbrot Set became very popular, this led to many articles in home craft magazines
covering fractal crafts. It was usually cross stitch or quilting technics which were used as a
display for fractal imaging. The fractals were then generated through the computer, then
transferred to the textile medium. The fractals worked by themselves or became the
inspiration for new design ideas and technics. Just think of it, fashion and mathematics
together. A well-known textile artist who uses computer-generated fractals for her designs is
Jhane Barnes. Using a handloom in her early design years accelerated when she discovered
the design capabilities of math and a computer. Jhane redefined fashion textiles, using
weaving and textile software to decide how the design will be woven into the fabric. Fractal
computer-generated designs exploded within the boundaries of her own creative mind,
revolutionizing the world of textile designs. These fabricated textiles are created for men's
wear, footwear, as well as carpets and home decor. Jhane's extensive use of computer design
has even caught the attention of the world of mathematics.

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 Fig. 2.2.1 Fig. 2.2.2

2.3 Fractals in the medical industry

Fractals have contributed to the medical industry. From fractals, doctors are now able to
know or predict the pattern of the disease and can analyze it before the time. Fractals can
tell about various diseases like cancer cells, heart problems etc. in case of our heart, it is
said that a healthy heart is a fractal heart. When we go to the doctor the first thing he does is
to analyze our heartbeat, the reason behind it is that they want to know the repeating pattern
in our heartbeat, duration of which will tell them that it’s a healthy heart or not. In case of
heartbeat if we take the sample of a heartbeat for a specified duration and if you observe it

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 and compare it with patterns of the same person heartbeat then we will observe that it has a
repeating pattern in it which will tell doctor about the condition of the patient’s heart and
can even tell that whether it’s a healthy heart or not.

We can find the fractals in the human body as it is seen in blood vessels, heart, lungs etc.

Fig. 2.3.1

2.4 Fractals in nature

We can find everywhere in nature, starting from the patterns of the trees to the pattern
formed in clouds, we can find fractals everywhere in nature. They are created by repeating a
simple process over and over in an ongoing feedback loop. Driven by recursion, fractals are
images of dynamic systems – the pictures of Chaos. Geometrically, they exist in between
our familiar dimensions. Fractal patterns are extremely familiar since nature is full of
fractals.

In case of trees, there is a repeating pattern in it in which we can see that it repeats itself in
every stem. Trees are the best example of fractals in nature as if we observe there is another
stem in the tree to which there are branches and the repeating patterns come in this way that
the way branches are grown on the mother stem, other stems are grown in the same way.

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 We can find the fractals in various things such as in the pattern of fern, clouds, trees etc.
Even the trees grow in the forest has a fractal pattern in it.

Drought surface, sea shells, storm, the pattern on the moon and endless things show fractals
in nature.

Fig. 2.4.1

2.5 Fractals in stock market

Fractals are used in the stock market as most of the experts refer to fractals for their future
predictions. While these concepts do apply to the market (it being a nonlinear, dynamic
system), most traders refer to fractals in a more literal sense. That is, as recurring patterns
that can predict reversals among larger, more chaotic price movements. These basic fractals
are composed of five or more bars.

Fractals are indicators on candlestick charts that identify reversal points in the market.
Traders often use fractals to get an idea about the direction in which the price will develop.
A fractal will form when a particular price pattern happens on a chart. The pattern itself
comprises five candles and the pattern indicates where the price has struggled to go higher,
in which case an up fractal appears or lower, in which case a down fractal appears.

The chart below shows what fractal indicators look like on a chart:

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 Fig. 2.5.1

Fig. 2.5.2

2.6 Fractals in movies and animation

Fractals are a curve or geometric figure, each part of which has the same statistical character
as the whole. Fractals are useful in modeling structures such as eroded coastlines or
snowflakes in which similar patterns recur at progressively smaller scales, and in describing
partly random or chaotic phenomena such as crystal growth, fluid turbulence, and galaxy
formation.

As a fractal object is magnified, ever finer new features are revealed. Fractals are a curve or
geometric figure, each part of which has the same statistical character as the whole. The
animation was started with the basic geometrical shapes say for example if we want to show
the scene of mountains then, first of all, we have to form a basic triangle as the shape of
mountains and then detailing can be done by repeating the triangles in the main mountain
triangle.

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 Fig.2.6.1

Fig 2.6.2
2.7 Fractals in astronomy
Fractals are mathematical objects with strange properties. They have been known for many
years but had been relegated to an obscure corner of mathematics. In the beginning, fractals
were curiosities, very few people thought they had any real applications (Ludwig
Boltzmann and Jean Perrin were among the exceptions). All that changed when Benoit
Mandelbrot began his career. Mandelbrot discovered that complex phenomenon in a variety
of sciences, including astronomy, could be understood in terms of fractals.

One of the applications of fractals in astronomy appears when we examine the orbits of
planets. Planets, like all objects in the universe, obey Newton’s law of gravity. However,
even though Newton’s law is relatively simple, it can be difficult to apply in practice. The
so-called N-body problem asks the question “if we have three or more objects each of which
exerts a gravitational field, how can we predict the motions of these objects?” No precise

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 answer is known except under a few special cases. You may be wondering at this point
“can’t we accurately determine the orbits of the planets in our solar system?” Well, we can,
sort of. Astronomers use approximations to determine orbits, and these approximations
work well enough that we can predict where any of the planets will be next week or twenty
years from now.

Fig. 2.7.1

3. Methodology

After what we have read about fractals and its importance in different sectors, we want to make
something which we can commercialize as a product and also shows and prove fractals in it. So
what we observe is that we should go an idea which comes to décor and people will find it really
interesting to buy. So we decided to make a tree lamp on which lamps of different fractal designs
will be hung and will give really good pattern when we switch it on.

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 Fig. 3.1

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3.1 Making of the tree
To make our prototype we decide to start with making a tree. As designers, we decided to make a
tree with the technique of paper mashing, where we will show the fractal in the tree. For the tree
model, we took help of ivory sheet and made a rough figure of the tree by making basic
geometrical shapes such as a tree in the shape of a cylinder and attached the branches of it, by
attaching the same cylindrical shapes which are smaller in size as the stems of the tree. We take
that we would attach the stems of the trees in such a way it will depict a repeating pattern which
will show the fractal in the model. For the paper mash, we took napkins and mixed it water and
fevicol which made our model solid enough to stand.

Our second step is to put a layer of paper mash on the model so that it will become solid and we
can attach the stems of the trees by putting a layer of paper mash. After applying the first layer of
paper mash on the tree model we got the rough idea of our model as the base of the model was
prepared, and we will able to give it a nice shape of the tree. While preparing the model we took
care of the fact that our tree should be in the form of the fractal and the mother stem i.e. the trunk
should be the biggest of all and the stems attached to it should be the only pattern of the growth
of the other stems in the tree because only this way we will be able to justify the fractal model.

After the first layer, we started our process to apply rest 2 to 3 layers of paper mash on the tree
model and give it a shape of the tree and its branches which show the same fractal pattern. After
the paper mash was dried it took the shape of the tree with stems showing the same growth
pattern. Now we're ready to paint the tree and started preparing for the lamps with the fractal
pattern.

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3.2 Making of lamps
We designed the lamps in such a way it will also emit the pattern of fractals when we will turn on
the light. First of all, we chose the pattern we want to show in our prototype and designed it in
AutoCAD. Then we took the print of our designs and make a cut out of and paste it the
cylindrical way so that we can attach the bulbs to it.

3.3 Installing the bulbs in tree

For bulb in lamp, we used torch bulb so that it can be work easily with any kind of battery. We
used 12 volte batteries for this process and connected the bulb in series connection. We left space
in tree for the connection in between the mother stem and the branches so that we can be able to
attach bulb to its branches. After that we attached out fractal printout to the bulb and connected
the circuit with the switch which we made outside the tree body.

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4. Result and analysis

We chose fractals because we found fractals very interesting and want to explore it so that we can
also understand its importance and can utilize it in our respective carriers. We studied many
concepts of fractals and its contribution in almost every industry. We came to know about the
different fractal pattern and its properties depicting different patterns. For example, we came to
know about the fractal antenna and Sierpinski carpet. After what we have read about fractals and
its importance in different sectors, we want to make something which we can commercialize as a
product and also shows and prove fractals in it. So what we observe is that we should go an idea
which comes to décor and people will find it really interesting to buy. So we decided to make a
tree lamp on which lamps of different fractal designs will be hung and will give really good
pattern when we switch it on.

We want to introduce this product as home decor is really famous now a day and moreover this
lamp will present wonderful patterns in the room when we switch on the light. Moreover, fractals
are really famous in textile and furniture industry since late 1970’s, because these are patterns
which are impossible to make by hand. So, people find these kinds of patterns really interesting
and moreover it gives the feeling of relaxation when we turn on the light.

We also plan to commercialize this product as the making of this product is really cheap and its
design is really innovative.

Fig. 4.1

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5. Conclusion

Fractals are the most important aspect, not this world because we can observe fractals from the
tiniest cell to the formation of the galaxy. In one way or another fractal is connected to every
aspect, principle, culture, and industry. Fractals revolve around the self-similar hidden dimension
which is endlessly repeating itself.

So, in conclusion, I want to say that it’s the maths which is most concentrated on pictorial
reference more than formulas and we can fractals in everywhere around the universe, a condition
we should master the skill of watching the world in a way that no one does.

References

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1. Lesmoir-Gordon, Nigel; "The Colours of Infinity: The Beauty, The Power and the Sense
of Fractals." ISBN 1-904555-05-5 (The book comes with a related DVD of the Arthur C.
Clarke documentary introduction to the fractal concept and the Mandelbrot set).
2. Liu, Huajie; Fractal Art, Changsha: Hunan Science and Technology Press, 1997, ISBN
9787535722348.
3. Gouyet, Jean-François; Physics and Fractal Structures (Foreword by B. Mandelbrot);
Masson, 1996. ISBN 2-225-85130-1, and New York: Springer-Verlag, 1996. ISBN 978-0-
387-94153-0. Out-of-print. Available in PDF version at."Physics and Fractal Structures"
(in French). Jfgouyet.fr. Retrieved 2010-10-17.
4. Bunde, Armin; Havlin, Shlomo (1996). Fractals and Disordered Systems. Springer.
5. Bunde, Armin; Havlin, Shlomo (1995). Fractals in Science. Springer.
6. ben-Avraham, Daniel; Havlin, Shlomo (2000). Diffusion and Reactions in Fractals and
Disordered Systems. Cambridge University Press.
7. Falconer, Kenneth (2013). Fractals, A Very Short Introduction. Oxford University Press.

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