Evidence for pattern development; Golden Ratio (Introduction)

by David Turell , Sunday, December 20, 2015, 02:34 (3261 days ago) @ David Turell

This ratio is seen throughout nature, both biological and cosmological:-http://www.sajs.co.za/sites/default/files/publications/pdf/Boeyens_SciCo.pdf-"Within recent millennia, sentient representatives of the species Homo sapiens have explored science with a sense of curiosity. Currently there are schoolchildren, university students and academic researchers, in Africa and elsewhere, asking questions about relativity, mass, space, particles, waves, space-time and the nature of constants in the fields of mathematics, physics, chemistry and biology.1 Recently, questions have been raised about whether an irrational mathematical constant - designated by the Greek symbol ? with a value of about 1.618 - can be
related to a biological species constant (T), based on morphometric analyses of modern mammalian skulls, and explored in the context of probabilities of conspecificity of Plio-Pleistocene hominin fossils.2-4 We suggest that there
is a strong case that this so-called ‘Golden Ratio' (1.61803...) can be related not only to aspects of mathematics but also to physics, chemistry, biology and the topology of space-time.-"A convincing case for assuming a cosmic character of the Golden Ratio can be made based on the ubiquity of logarithmic spirals. Spectacular examples include the Whirlpool Galaxy (M51), ammonites, the shape of Nautilus shells, Hurricane Katrina and the distribution of planets, moons, asteroids and rings in the solar system (Figure 1). The logarithmic spiral is firmly related to the Fibonacci series and the Golden Ratio of number theory. A familiar aspect of Fibonacci spirals is the way they feature in botanical phyllotaxis, the shape of kudu (Tragelaphus strepsiceros) horns and the curvature of elephant tusks. Less well known is the way in which the crystallographic structure of DNA, stress patterns in nanomaterials, the stability of atomic nuclides and the periodicity of atomic matter depend on the Golden Ratio.1 Apart from the Golden Ratio, a second common factor among this variety of structures is that they all represent spontaneous growth patterns. The argument that this amazing consilience (‘self-similarity') arises from a response to a common environmental constraint, which can only be an intrinsic feature of curved space-time, is compelling."-Comment: Just more evidence that God makes his job easier with patterns.