Peking University and other studies reveal the mechanism of honeycomb structure

Recently, Professor Wang Jianxiang, Department of Mechanics, Peking University Institute of Technology, and Professor Bhushan Karihaloo, Cardiff University, and Dr. Zhang Kai, School of Astronautics, Beijing Institute of Technology used a simple mechanical model to reveal the natural honeycomb honeycomb forming a hexagon Mechanism. The work has been published in the Journal of the Royal Society Interface and has been published on the "Nature" website, "Exploration" website, "Life Science" website, the Australian Broadcasting Corporation website, the US "Huffington Post" "," Future "website and other international media widely reported.

Geometric configuration of single honeycomb holes in natural honeycomb: (A) honeycomb holes during construction; (B) well-built honeycomb holes, scale bar is 2mm

Natural bee honeycomb has a perfect hexagonal structure, which is one of the most amazing structures in nature, and it has been confirmed that the hexagonal structure saves labor and beeswax to the greatest extent. The ancient Greek mathematician Pappus of Alexandria recognized the economics of the hexagonal structure in the fourth century AD, and believed that bees have "geometric foresight"; Darwin once praised the natural honeycomb and even beyond natural selection can lead to The perfect structure; the 17th-century Danish mathematician Erasmus Bartholin and the early 20th century Scottish zoologist D'Arcy Thompson believed that hexagons came from physical processes. However, to date, there has been no detailed analysis and experimental observations on how honeybees construct perfect hexagonal structures.

Research by Wang Jianxiang and others found that Italian bees first built honeycomb holes of circular cross section instead of hexagons, and the gaps adjacent to the honeycomb holes were clearly visible. These round holes are stacked into a conventional hexagonal array. After cutting 0.5mm along the upper end of the new honeycomb hole, it was found that the honeycomb hole has shown a perfect hexagonal structure, which shows that as the depth of the honeycomb hole increases, the honeycomb hole gradually transforms from a circle to a hexagon. At the same time, the research indicates that the formation of the hexagonal structure of natural honeycomb is related to the surface energy of the smallest honeycomb cell caused by the liquid bridge. The temperature of the chest of bees in the hive can exceed 40 degrees Celsius. At this temperature, beeswax will become an amorphous plastic state, so that a curved liquid bridge is formed at the contact point of the hole wall of the adjacent hole, and then the tensile stress is generated in the hole wall under the action of the liquid bridge, making the honeycomb The holes form a hexagon with rounded corners. With the increase of time, the contact area of ​​the honeycomb cell walls gradually increased, and the cell walls of adjacent honeycomb cells gradually fused, and finally formed a hexagonal structure with fine surface and symmetrical structure. Finally, the study also mentioned the promotion of the biological behavior of bees on the wall of honeycomb cells from a circle to a hexagon. Under the effect of natural selection, bees have mastered a series of techniques, such as chewing beeswax, heating beeswax, and removing beeswax. These techniques allow bees to build hexagonal honeycombs more simply and economically. Zhang Kai et al.'S previous work on the structure and mechanical properties of natural honeycomb was published in the Proceedings of the American Academy of Sciences.

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