>"Impossible symmetries Quasicrystals contain building blocks of atoms that — unlike those in ordinary crystals — do not repeat in a regular, brickwork-like pa

>"Impossible symmetries Quasicrystals contain building blocks of atoms that — unlike those in ordinary crystals — do not repeat in a regular, brickwork-like pattern. Whereas ordinary crystal structures look identical after being translated in certain directions, quasicrystals have symmetries that were once considered impossible: for example, some have pentagonal symmetry, and so look the same if rotated by one-fifth of a full twist. Materials scientist Daniel Shechtman, now at the Technion Israel Institute of Technology in Haifa, first discovered such an impossible symmetry in a synthetic alloy in 1982. It had pentagonal symmetry when rotated in each of various possible directions, something that would occur if its building blocks were icosahedral — that is, had a regular shape with 20 faces. Many researchers initially questioned Shechtman’s findings, because it is mathematically impossible to fill space using only icosahedrons. Shechtman ultimately won the 2011 Nobel Prize in Chemistry for the discovery. [...] Quasicrystals might also form in other materials that were generated in violent conditions, such as fulgurite, the material made when lightning strikes rock, sand or other sediments." https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fulgurite https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fulgurite >"Fulgurites (from the Latin fulgur, meaning "lightning") are natural tubes, clumps, or masses of sintered, vitrified, and/or fused soil, sand, rock, organic debris and other sediments that sometimes form when lightning discharges into ground. Fulgurites are classified as a variety of the mineraloid lechatelierite. When ordinary negative polarity cloud-ground lightning discharges into a grounding substrate, greater than 100 million volts (100 MV) of potential difference may be bridged.[2] Such current may propagate into silica-rich quartzose sand, mixed soil, clay, or other sediments, rapidly vaporizing and melting resistant materials within such a common dissipation regime.[3] This results in the formation of generally hollow and/or vesicular, branching assemblages of glassy tubes, crusts, and clumped masses.[4] Fulgurites have no fixed composition because their chemical composition is determined by the physical and chemical properties of whatever material is being struck by lightning. Fulgurites are structurally similar to Lichtenberg figures , which are the branching patterns produced on surfaces of insulators during dielectric breakdown by high-voltage discharges, such as lightning.[5][6]" https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lichtenberg_figure https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lichtenberg_figure >"A Lichtenberg figure (German Lichtenberg-Figuren), or Lichtenberg dust figure, is a branching electric discharge that sometimes appears on the surface or in the interior of insulating materials. Lichtenberg figures are often associated with the progressive deterioration of high voltage components and equipment. The study of planar Lichtenberg figures along insulating surfaces and 3D electrical trees within insulating materials often provides engineers with valuable insights for improving the long-term reliability of high-voltage equipment. Lichtenberg figures are now known to occur on or within solids, liquids, and gases during electrical breakdown. Lichtenberg figures are natural phenomena which exhibit fractal properties. The emergence of tree-like structures in nature is summarized by constructal law." PDS: My own curiousity, with respect to Fulgerites, is: I wonder if they possess any significant electric and/or magnetic and/or radio frequency spectrum -- field(s)...? Or any other interesting/unusual properties... Perhaps they'd make interesting transducers for some type of electromagnetic spectrum field, and/or antennas... or maybe just a diode or resistor for electricity... or some other type of field...