English

Noun

rhombic dodecahedron ‎(plural rhombic dodecahedra or rhombic dodecahedrons)

1. (geometry) A convex polyhedron that has 12 congruent rhombic faces, 24 edges and 14 vertices of two types (eight 3-edge and six 4-edge) and is a Catalan solid.
   • 1990 [1978], Peter Pearce, Structure in Nature Is a Strategy for Design, page 5,

     Doing this we would find that the network which is dual to the space filling array of rhombic dodecahedra is the space filling array of tetrahedra and octahedra in which 12 edges meet at the vertices which fall at the centers of the original rhombic dodecahedra.

   • 2007, Scott Eastham, American Dreamer: Bucky Fuller and the Sacred Geometry of Nature, page 160,

     Crystallographers are familiar with the rhombic dodecahedron as a domain of reference with which to account for the growth and structure of natural crystals.

   • 2013, L. Dennis, Brender McNair, N. J. Woolf, L. H. Kauffman, 6: The Mereon 120/80 — Form Informing Function, Lynnclaire Dennis, Jytte Brender McNair, Louis H. Kauffman (editors), The Mereon Matrix: Unity, Perspective and Paradox, page 135,

     Rhombic Dodecahedrons appear as well in the unit cells of diamonds, four vertices absent with the chemical bonds on the remaining edges. The Rhombic Dodecahedron can be used to tessellate 3D space in a manner similar to the Cube.

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