How do i build a straw icosahedron?

Question

Ok so i have to build this icosahedron then i believe it said stellate it witch makes it kind of look like a crazy star the make the icosahedron's dual on the stellated part for a geometry project. So if anyone knows where i can find some good instructions or a video on how to do it I'd be very appreciative. Oh and it's due Monday.

Answer 1

As long as you have a good picture to follow, it virtually builds itself.

See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:Icosa...

Start with three straws and use yarn or string threaded through the straws to form an equilateral triangle. then repeat with two more straws to create a second equilateral which has in common one of the straws in the forst triangle. Keep doing that until you get a pentagonal pyramid built.

Now start adding a pair of straws to make an equliateral triangle thatpoints "down" from any one of the five "perimereter" straws. do that four more times. Now you have your pentagonal pyramid with five triangular "legs"

Start joinging them together by adding one straw to form an equilateral pyramid from a cross-strut across each of the two pairs of "legs" (points). You now have fifteen sides and an open bottom.

Just start bulding the bottom pentagonal pyramid by adding two straws to one of the five cross-struts you just added. and repeat to make the remaining bottom triangles; this time you willo only be adding one more straw to make a triangle, since you will use one side of a neighbor triangle, and one of the cross struts mentioned in the previous paragraph.

It really will essentially build itself.

This is a great example of how a virus cann assemble itself. As long as the pieces can only geometrically go together in one way, it really will "self-assemble".