Dodecahedron

In geometry, a dodecahedron (Greek δωδεκάεδρον, from δώδεκα dōdeka "twelve" +

ἕδρα hédra "base", "seat" or "face") is any polyhedron with twelve flat faces. The most Common dodecahedra
familiar dodecahedron is the regular dodecahedron, which is a Platonic solid. There are Ih, order 120
also three regular star dodecahedra, which are constructed as stellations of the convex
Small Great
form. All of these have icosahedral symmetry, order 120. Regular- stellated- Great- stellated-

The pyritohedron, a common crystal form in pyrite, is an irregular pentagonal

dodecahedron, having the same topology (in terms of its vertices as a graph) as the
regular one but pyritohedral symmetry while the tetartoid has tetrahedral symmetry. The
rhombic dodecahedron, seen as a limiting case of the pyritohedron, has octahedral
symmetry. The elongated dodecahedron and trapezo-rhombic dodecahedron variations,
along with the rhombic dodecahedra, are space-filling. There are numerous other T , order 24 T, order 12 Oh, order 48
Johnson
h (J84)
dodecahedra.
Pyritohedron Tetartoid Rhombic- Triangular-

Contents
Regular dodecahedra
Other pentagonal dodecahedra
D4h, order 16 D3h, order 12
Pyritohedron
Crystal pyrite Rhombo- Rhombo- Trapezo- Rhombo-
hexagonal- square- rhombic- triangular-
Cartesian coordinates
Geometric freedom
Tetartoid
Cartesian coordinates
Variations
Dual of triangular gyrobianticupola
Rhombic dodecahedron
Other dodecahedra
Practical usage
See also
References
External links

Regular dodecahedra
The convex regular dodecahedron is one of the five regular Platonic solids and can be represented by its Schläfli symbol {5, 3}.

The dual polyhedron is the regular icosahedron {3, 5}, having five equilateral triangles around each vertex.

Four kinds of regular dodecahedra

Convex regular dodecahedron Great stellated dodecahedron

Small stellated dodecahedron Great dodecahedron

The convex regular dodecahedron also has three stellations, all of which are regular star dodecahedra. They form three of the four Kepler–Poinsot
polyhedra. They are the small stellated dodecahedron {5/2, 5}, the great dodecahedron {5, 5/2}, and the great stellated dodecahedron {5/2, 3}. The
small stellated dodecahedron and great dodecahedron are dual to each other; the great stellated dodecahedron is dual to the great icosahedron {3,
5/2}. All of these regular star dodecahedra have regular pentagonal or pentagrammic faces. The convex regular dodecahedron and great stellated
dodecahedron are different realisations of the same abstract regular polyhedron; the small stellated dodecahedron and great dodecahedron are
different realisations of another abstract regular polyhedron.

Other pentagonal dodecahedra

In crystallography, two important dodecahedra can occur as crystal forms in some symmetry classes of the cubic crystal system that are topologically
equivalent to the regular dodecahedron but less symmetrical: the pyritohedron with pyritohedral symmetry, and the tetartoid with tetrahedral
symmetry:

Pyritohedron

A pyritohedron is a dodecahedron with pyritohedral (Th) symmetry. Like the regular dodecahedron, it has Pyritohedron
twelve identical pentagonal faces, with three meeting in each of the 20 vertices (see figure).[1] However, the
pentagons are not constrained to be regular, and the underlying atomic arrangement has no true fivefold
symmetry axis. Its 30 edges are divided into two sets – containing 24 and 6 edges of the same length. The only
axes of rotational symmetry are three mutually perpendicular twofold axes and four threefold axes.

Although regular dodecahedra do not exist in crystals, the pyritohedron form occurs in the crystals of the
mineral pyrite, and it may be an inspiration for the discovery of the regular Platonic solid form. The true regular
dodecahedron can occur as a shape for quasicrystals (such as holmium–magnesium–zinc quasicrystal) with
icosahedral symmetry, which includes true fivefold rotation axes.

Crystal pyrite

Its name comes from one of the two common crystal habits shown by pyrite, the other one being the cube. In
A pyritohedron has 30 edges: 6
pyritohedral pyrite, the faces have a Miller index of (210), which means that the dihedral angle is 2·arctan(2) ≈ corresponding
to cube faces, and 24
126.87° and each pentagonal face has one angle of approximately 121.6° in between two angles of touching cube vertices.
approximately 106.6° and opposite two angles of approximately 102.6°. In a perfect crystal, the measurements
Face polygon irregular pentagon
of an ideal face would be:
Coxeter
diagrams

Faces 12
Edges 30 (6 + 24)
Vertices 20 (8 + 12)

Symmetry Th, [4,3+], (3*2),

group order 24
These ideal proportions are rarely found in nature.
Rotation T, [3,3]+, (332),
group order 12
Dual
Pseudoicosahedron
polyhedron
Properties face transitive
Net (for perfect natural pyrite)

Cubic pyrite Pyritohedral pyrite... ...with corner angles

Cartesian coordinates

If the eight vertices of a cube have coordinates of:

(±1, ±1, ±1)

Then a pyritohedron has 12 additional vertices:

(0, ±(1 + h), ±(1 − h2))

(±(1 + h), ±(1 − h2), 0)
(±(1 − h2), 0, ±(1 + h))

where h is the height of the wedge-shaped "roof" above the faces of the cube. When h = 1, the six cross-edges
degenerate to points and the pyritohedron reduces to a rhombic dodecahedron. When h = 0, the cross-edges are
absorbed in the facets of the cube, and the pyritohedron reduces to a cube. When h = −1 +2 √5 , the multiplicative inverse of the golden ratio, the result
is a regular dodecahedron. When h = −1 −2 √5 , the conjugate of this value, the result is a regular great stellated dodecahedron. For natural pyrite, h = 12
.
 Orthogonal projections of a pyritohedron with a wedge height h = 12 , or 1/4 the cube edge length. This is the same as
natural pyrite. These proportions are also found in the Weaire–Phelan structure.

At left, h = 12 . At right, h = φ
1
(a
regular dodecahedron).

A reflected pyritohedron is made by swapping the nonzero coordinates above. The two pyritohedra can be
superimposed to give the compound of two dodecahedra. The image to the left shows the case where the
pyritohedra are convex regular dodecahedra.

Pyritohedra in dual positions

Geometric freedom

The pyritohedron has a geometric degree of freedom with limiting cases of a cubic convex hull at one limit of
collinear edges, and a rhombic dodecahedron as the other limit as 6 edges are degenerated to length zero. The
regular dodecahedron represents a special intermediate case where all edges and angles are equal.

It is possible to go past these limiting cases, creating concave or nonconvex pyritohedra. The endo-
dodecahedron is concave and equilateral; it can tessellate space with the convex regular dodecahedron.
Continuing from there in that direction, we pass through a degenerate case where twelve vertices coincide in
the centre, and on to the regular great stellated dodecahedron where all edges and angles are equal again, and
the faces have been distorted into regular pentagrams. On the other side, past the rhombic dodecahedron, we
get a nonconvex equilateral dodecahedron with fish-shaped self-intersecting equilateral pentagonal faces.

Animation of convex/concave
pyritohedral honeycomb, between
h=± √52− 1

Special cases of the pyritohedron

1:1 0:1 1:1 2:1 1:1 0:1 1:1

h = − √52+ 1 h = −1 h = −√52 + 1 h=0 h = √52− 1 h=1 h = √52+ 1

A rhombic
Regular star, great A regular Self-intersecting
The concave dodecahedron is a
stellated Degenerate, 12 A cube can be dodecahedron is an equilateral
equilateral degenerate case
dodecahedron, with vertices in the center divided into a intermediate case dodecahedron
dodecahedron, with the 6
regular pentagram pyritohedron by with equal edge
called an endo- crossedges reduced
faces bisecting all the lengths.
dodecahedron. to length zero.
edges, and faces in
alternate directions.
Tetartoid

A tetartoid (also tetragonal pentagonal dodecahedron, pentagon-tritetrahedron, and tetrahedric Tetartoid

pentagon dodecahedron) is a dodecahedron with chiral tetrahedral symmetry (T). Like the regular Tetragonal pentagonal dodecahedron
dodecahedron, it has twelve identical pentagonal faces, with three meeting in each of the 20 vertices.
However, the pentagons are not regular and the figure has no fivefold symmetry axes.

Although regular dodecahedra do not exist in crystals, the tetartoid form does. The name tetartoid
comes from the Greek root for one-fourth because it has one fourth of full octahedral symmetry, and
half of pyritohedral symmetry.[2] The mineral cobaltite can have this symmetry form.[3]

cobaltite

Face polygon irregular pentagon

Conway notation gT
Faces 12
Its topology can be as a cube with square faces bisected into 2 rectangles like the pyritohedron, and Edges 30 (6+12+12)
then the bisection lines are slanted retaining 3-fold rotation at the 8 corners.
Vertices 20 (4+4+12)

Symmetry group T, [3,3]+, (332), order 12

Cartesian coordinates
Properties convex, face transitive
The following points are vertices of a tetartoid pentagon under tetrahedral symmetry:

(a, b, c); (−a, −b, c); (− dn , − dn , dn ); (−c, −a, b); (− dn , dn , dn ),

1 1 1 2 2 2

under the following conditions:[4]

0 ≤ a ≤ b ≤ c,
n = a2c − bc2,
d1 = a2 − ab + b2 + ac − 2bc,
d2 = a2 + ab + b2 − ac − 2bc,
nd1d2 ≠ 0.

Variations
Tetartoid
It can be seen as a tetrahedron, with edges divided into 3 segments, along with a center point of each
triangular face. In Conway polyhedron notation it can be seen as gT, a gyro tetrahedron.
 Example tetartoid variations

Dual of triangular gyrobianticupola

A lower symmetry form of the regular dodecahedron can be constructed as the dual of a polyhedra constructed from two triangular anticupola
connected base-to-base, called a triangular gyrobianticupola. It has D3d symmetry, order 12. It has 2 sets of 3 identical pentagons on the top and
bottom, connected 6 pentagons around the sides which alternate upwards and downwards. This form has a hexagonal cross-section and identical
copies can be connected as a partial hexagonal honeycomb, but all vertices will not match.

Rhombic dodecahedron
The rhombic dodecahedron is a zonohedron with twelve rhombic faces and octahedral symmetry. It is dual to the
quasiregular cuboctahedron (an Archimedean solid) and occurs in nature as a crystal form. The rhombic dodecahedron
packs together to fill space.

The rhombic dodecahedron can be seen as a degenerate pyritohedron where the 6 special edges have been reduced to
zero length, reducing the pentagons into rhombic faces.

The rhombic dodecahedron has several stellations, the first of which is also a parallelohedral spacefiller.
Rhombic dodecahedron
Another important rhombic dodecahedron, the Bilinski dodecahedron, has twelve faces congruent to those of the
rhombic triacontahedron, i.e. the diagonals are in the ratio of the golden ratio. It is also a zonohedron and was
described by Bilinski in 1960.[5] This figure is another spacefiller, and can also occur in non-periodic spacefillings along with the rhombic
triacontahedron, the rhombic icosahedron and rhombic hexahedra.[6]

Other dodecahedra
There are 6,384,634 topologically distinct convex dodecahedra, excluding mirror images—the number of vertices ranges from 8 to 20.[7] (Two
polyhedra are "topologically distinct" if they have intrinsically different arrangements of faces and vertices, such that it is impossible to distort one
into the other simply by changing the lengths of edges or the angles between edges or faces.)

Topologically distinct dodecahedra (excluding pentagonal and rhombic forms)

Uniform polyhedra:
Decagonal prism – 10 squares, 2 decagons, D10h symmetry, order 40.
Pentagonal antiprism – 10 equilateral triangles, 2 pentagons, D5d symmetry, order 20
Johnson solids (regular faced):
Pentagonal cupola – 5 triangles, 5 squares, 1 pentagon, 1 decagon, C5v symmetry, order 10
Snub disphenoid – 12 triangles, D2d, order 8
Elongated square dipyramid – 8 triangles and 4 squares, D4h symmetry, order 16
Metabidiminished icosahedron – 10 triangles and 2 pentagons, C2v symmetry, order 4
 Congruent irregular faced: (face-transitive)
Hexagonal bipyramid – 12 isosceles triangles, dual of hexagonal prism, D6h symmetry, order 24
Hexagonal trapezohedron – 12 kites, dual of hexagonal antiprism, D6d symmetry, order 24
Triakis tetrahedron – 12 isosceles triangles, dual of truncated tetrahedron, Td symmetry, order 24
Other less regular faced:
Hendecagonal pyramid – 11 isosceles triangles and 1 regular hendecagon, C11v, order 11
Trapezo-rhombic dodecahedron – 6 rhombi, 6 trapezoids – dual of triangular orthobicupola, D3h symmetry, order 12
Rhombo-hexagonal dodecahedron or elongated Dodecahedron – 8 rhombi and 4 equilateral hexagons, D4h symmetry, order 16
Truncated pentagonal trapezohedron, D5d, order 20, topologically equivalent to regular dodecahedron

Practical usage
Armand Spitz used a dodecahedron as the "globe" equivalent for his Digital Dome planetarium projector.[8] based upon a suggestion from Albert
Einstein.

See also
120-cell: a regular polychoron (4D polytope) whose surface consists of 120 dodecahedral cells.
Pentakis dodecahedron
Snub dodecahedron
Truncated dodecahedron
Roman dodecahedron

References
1. Crystal Habit (http://www.galleries.com/minerals/property/crystal.htm#dodecahe). Galleries.com. Retrieved on 2016-12-02.
2. Dutch, Steve. The 48 Special Crystal Forms (https://www.uwgb.edu/dutchs/symmetry/xlforms.htm) Archived (https://web.archive.or
g/web/20130918103121/https://www.uwgb.edu/dutchs/symmetry/xlforms.htm) 2013-09-18 at the Wayback Machine. Natural and
Applied Sciences, University of Wisconsin-Green Bay, U.S.
3. Crystal Habit (http://www.galleries.com/minerals/property/crystal.htm#dodecahe). Galleries.com. Retrieved on 2016-12-02.
4. The Tetartoid (http://demonstrations.wolfram.com/TheTetartoid/). Demonstrations.wolfram.com. Retrieved on 2016-12-02.
5. Hafner, I. and Zitko, T. Introduction to golden rhombic polyhedra (http://www.mi.sanu.ac.rs/vismath/hafner2/IntrodRhombic.html).
Faculty of Electrical Engineering, University of Ljubljana, Slovenia.
6. Lord, E. A.; Ranganathan, S.; Kulkarni, U. D. (2000). "Tilings, coverings, clusters and quasicrystals" (http://met.iisc.ernet.in/~lord/we
bfiles/tcq.html). Curr. Sci. 78: 64–72.
7. Counting polyhedra (http://www.numericana.com/data/polycount.htm). Numericana.com (2001-12-31). Retrieved on 2016-12-02.
8. Ley, Willy (February 1965). "Forerunners of the Planetarium" (https://archive.org/stream/Galaxy_v23n02_1964-12#page/n93/mode/
2up). For Your Information. Galaxy Science Fiction. pp. 87–98.

External links
Weisstein, Eric W. "Dodecahedron" (https://mathworld.wolfram.com/Dodecahedron.html). MathWorld.
Weisstein, Eric W. "Elongated Dodecahedron" (https://mathworld.wolfram.com/ElongatedDodecahedron.html). MathWorld.
Weisstein, Eric W. "Pyritohedron" (https://mathworld.wolfram.com/Pyritohedron.html). MathWorld.
Plato's Fourth Solid and the "Pyritohedron", by Paul Stephenson, 1993, The Mathematical Gazette, Vol. 77, No. 479 (Jul., 1993),
pp. 220–226 [1] (https://www.jstor.org/pss/3619718)
THE GREEK ELEMENTS (http://www.friesian.com/elements.htm)
Stellation of Pyritohedron (http://bulatov.org/polyhedra/dodeca270/index.html) VRML models and animations of Pyritohedron and its
stellations
Klitzing, Richard. "3D convex uniform polyhedra o3o5x – doe" (https://bendwavy.org/klitzing/dimensions/polyhedra.htm).
Editable printable net of a dodecahedron with interactive 3D view (http://www.dr-mikes-math-games-for-kids.com/polyhedral-nets.ht
ml?net=1bk9bWiCSjJz6LpNRYDsAu8YDBWnSMrt0ydjpIfF8jmyc682nzINN9xaGayOA9FBx396IIYMhulg2mGXcK0mAk5Rmo8qm9u
t0kE1qP&name=Dodecahedron#applet)
The Uniform Polyhedra (http://www.mathconsult.ch/showroom/unipoly/)
Origami Polyhedra (https://www.flickr.com/photos/pascalin/sets/72157594234292561/) – Models made with Modular Origami
Dodecahedron (http://polyhedra.org/poly/show/3/dodecahedron) – 3D model that works in your browser
Virtual Reality Polyhedra (http://www.georgehart.com/virtual-polyhedra/vp.html) The Encyclopedia of Polyhedra
Dodecahedra (http://www.georgehart.com/virtual-polyhedra/dodecahedra.html) variations
VRML models

1. Regular dodecahedron (http://www.georgehart.com/virtual-polyhedra/vrml/dodecahedron.wrl) regular

2. Rhombic dodecahedron (http://www.georgehart.com/virtual-polyhedra/vrml/rhombic_dodecahedron.wrl) quasiregular
3. Decagonal prism (http://www.georgehart.com/virtual-polyhedra/vrml/decagonal_prism.wrl) vertex-transitive
 4. Pentagonal antiprism (http://www.georgehart.com/virtual-polyhedra/vrml/pentagonal_antiprism.wrl) vertex-transitive
5. Hexagonal dipyramid (http://www.georgehart.com/virtual-polyhedra/vrml/hexagonal_dipyramid.wrl) face-transitive
6. Triakis tetrahedron (http://www.georgehart.com/virtual-polyhedra/vrml/triakistetrahedron.wrl) face-transitive
7. hexagonal trapezohedron (http://www.georgehart.com/virtual-polyhedra/vrml/hexagonal_trapezohedron.wrl) face-transitive
8. Pentagonal cupola (http://www.georgehart.com/virtual-polyhedra/vrml/pentagonal_cupola_(J5).wrl) regular faces
K.J.M. MacLean, A Geometric Analysis of the Five Platonic Solids and Other Semi-Regular Polyhedra (http://www.kjmaclean.com/G
eometry/GeometryHome.html)
Dodecahedron 3D Visualization (http://www.bodurov.com/VectorVisualizer/?vectors=-0.94/-2.885/-3.975/-1.52/-4.67/-0.94v-3.035/0/-
3.975/-4.91/0/-0.94v3.975/-2.885/-0.94/1.52/-4.67/0.94v1.52/-4.67/0.94/-1.52/-4.67/-0.94v0.94/-2.885/3.975/1.52/-4.67/0.94v-3.975/-
2.885/0.94/-1.52/-4.67/-0.94v-3.975/-2.885/0.94/-4.91/0/-0.94v-3.975/2.885/0.94/-4.91/0/-0.94v-3.975/2.885/0.94/-1.52/4.67/-0.94v-
2.455/1.785/3.975/-3.975/2.885/0.94v-2.455/-1.785/3.975/-3.975/-2.885/0.94v-1.52/4.67/-0.94/-0.94/2.885/-3.975v4.91/0/0.94/3.97
5/-2.885/-0.94v3.975/2.885/-0.94/2.455/1.785/-3.975v2.455/-1.785/-3.975/3.975/-2.885/-0.94v1.52/4.67/0.94/-1.52/4.67/-0.94v3.03
5/0/3.975/0.94/2.885/3.975v0.94/2.885/3.975/-2.455/1.785/3.975v-2.455/1.785/3.975/-2.455/-1.785/3.975v-2.455/-1.785/3.975/0.94/
-2.885/3.975v0.94/-2.885/3.975/3.035/0/3.975v2.455/1.785/-3.975/-0.94/2.885/-3.975v-0.94/2.885/-3.975/-3.035/0/-3.975v-3.035/0/-
3.975/-0.94/-2.885/-3.975v-0.94/-2.885/-3.975/2.455/-1.785/-3.975v2.455/-1.785/-3.975/2.455/1.785/-3.97v3.035/0/3.975/4.91/0/0.9
4v4.91/0/0.94/3.975/2.885/-0.94v3.975/2.885/-0.94/1.52/4.67/0.94v1.52/4.67/0.94/0.94/2.885/3.975)
Stella: Polyhedron Navigator (http://www.software3d.com/Stella.php): Software used to create some of the images on this page.
How to make a dodecahedron from a Styrofoam cube (http://video.fc2.com/content/20141015mMG9QR5R)
Roman dodecahedrons: Mysterious objects that have been found across the territory of the Roman Empire (https://www.thevintagen
ews.com/2016/12/06/roman-dodecahedrons-mysterious-objects-that-have-been-found-across-the-territory-of-the-roman-empire/)

Fundamental convex regular and uniform polytopes in dimensions 2–10

Family An Bn I2(p) / Dn E6 / E7 / E8 / F4 / G2 Hn

Regular polygon Triangle Square p-gon Hexagon Pentagon

Uniform polyhedron Tetrahedron Octahedron • Cube Demicube Dodecahedron • Icosahedron

Uniform 4-polytope 5-cell 16-cell • Tesseract Demitesseract 24-cell 120-cell • 600-cell

Uniform 5-polytope 5-simplex 5-orthoplex • 5-cube 5-demicube

Uniform 6-polytope 6-simplex 6-orthoplex • 6-cube 6-demicube 122 • 221

Uniform 7-polytope 7-simplex 7-orthoplex • 7-cube 7-demicube 132 • 231 • 321

Uniform 8-polytope 8-simplex 8-orthoplex • 8-cube 8-demicube 142 • 241 • 421

Uniform 9-polytope 9-simplex 9-orthoplex • 9-cube 9-demicube

Uniform 10-polytope 10-simplex 10-orthoplex • 10-cube 10-demicube

Uniform n-polytope n-simplex n-orthoplex • n-cube n-demicube 1k2 • 2k1 • k21 n-pentagonal polytope

Topics: Polytope families • Regular polytope • List of regular polytopes and compounds

Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Dodecahedron&oldid=955992229"

This page was last edited on 10 May 2020, at 23:12 (UTC).

Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License; additional terms may apply. By using this site, you agree to the Terms of Use and
Privacy Policy. Wikipedia® is a registered trademark of the Wikimedia Foundation, Inc., a non-profit organization.