initial configuration
3
4
target configuration
4Figure
2.
Snelson's X tensegrity
(left)
and its inverse
(right),
with struts and cables inter-changed, demonstrate the corcept of super stability. The X tensegrity is super stable: Anycomparable configuration must either have shorter struts or longer cables. The Inverse
Is
notsuper stable, because
it
can be defonned by flipping along one digonal, so that the strutsremain the same length while the other diagonal cable becomes shorter. Struts are shown ingreen; cables are dashed lines.
Thus a packing can be considered to bea tensegrity with invisible struts.)Some people have defined a tenseg-rity in such a way that no two strutsshare an end vertex, and each vertex
is
at the end of a strut. Again, for reasonsof generality we do not adopt theseconventions, but for many of the ex-amples that are mentioned later, theseproperties happen to hold.What
is
Stability?
As
in the definition of a tensegrity
it-
self,there are several different plausiblenotions ofstability,each appropriate forcertain circumstances: infinitesimalrigidity,staticrigidity,fiBt-and second-order rigidity, prestress stability andothers. (See Connelly and Whiteley1996 for a definition of these terms.)We have chosen a very direct andstrong definition, whose name wasproposed by one ofour undergraduatestudents, Alex Tsow. We can call twoconfigurations "comparaple"
if
theyhave the same number of vertices, con-nected by cables and struts in the sameway.Tsowcalled a given tensegrity
su-
per
stable
if
any comparable configura-tion of vertices either violates one of the distance constraints-one of thestruts is too short, or one of the cablestoo long-or else is an identical copyof (in geometrical terms, congruent to)the original.For example, Snelson's X tensegrityin Figure 2
is
super stable. One elemen-tary tensegrity that
is
not super stable
is
a hinge (two struts sharing one vertex):By opening or closing the hinge a little
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Figure 3. Points in n-dimensional Euclidean space can be identified with their coordinates ina Cartesian coordinate system. The number of coordinates is the dimension. Distance
in
n-dimensional space
is
calculated by analogy with the Pythagorean fOIDlula from plane geom-etry. A tensegrity can be defined in any dimension because its points and the distance con-straints governing the struts and cables can
aU
be stated in tenns of coordinates. Here exam-ples are shown for 1- through 4-dimensional space.144 American Scientist, Volume 86
bit, one obtains a new configurationwith the same strut lengths but a dif-ferent shape from the original. More in-terestingly,
if
one reverses the roles of cables and struts
in
the X tensegrity, itfails to be super stable, even consider-ing only configurations in the plane. It
is
rigid in the plane, in the sense thatthere
is
no continuous or gradual mo-tion of the vertices that preserves thecable and strut constraints. However, it
is
not rigid in space; like a hinge, it canbe flexed into new shapes that are notcongruent to the original.Unlike a rigid tensegrity,a super sta-ble tensegrity must win against all thecomparable configurations in anynumber of dimensions-including di-mensions 4 and higher. Mathemati-cians are used to such spaces, asPythagoras's formula for distance andDescartes's idea of coordinates makethem as easy to work with as 2-and
3-
dimensional space
(see Figure 3).
Spider Webs and StabilityTo prove that a tensegrity is stable
in
such a strong sense, we often invoke aconcept borrowed from physics-theidea of potential energy.When a struc-ture is deformed, physically it adsorbsor gives up energy. However, mathe-maticians need not be constrained tophysically realistic energy functions,but may invent convenient fictionalen~ergy functions to facilitate the verifica-tion ofsuper stability.A good starting point for under-standing these functions is the tenseg-rity that was constructed long beforeKenneth Snelson-the spider web. Aspider web diffeB from the tensegritiesdiscussed so far
in
two respects_First,
iI
has some "pinned" vertices, fixed inspace or in the plane; any comparableconfiguration must have vertices in ex·actly the same positions. Second, a spi·der web has only cables and no struts
(see Figure 4).
The energy functions considered fOJspider webs are motivated by, but notidentical to, the physical potential en·ergy for an ideal spring. The Englishphysicist Robert Hooke (1635-1703)found that the forceneeded to displaCEa spring was proportional to the
dis-
placement from
its
rest position. (HEwrote this empirical observation, late!known as Hooke's law,as an anagram"ceiinosssttuu." The unscrambled ana-gram-"Ut tensio, sic vis"-translat~from Latin as,
"As
the extension, so
i!
the force.") Although Hooke did nol
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