Abstract
AT the present time when economy of material is so important, the problem of the open packing of spheres possesses more than theoretical interest. The most open (or least dense) packing is unknown1. A number of systems have been described by Heesch and Laves2 including one with a density of 0.056, which may well, be the most open possible under the conditions which they have imposed upon themselves. But if the object be to obtain a homogeneous structure with minimum density, in which each sphere makes contact with three others, and which shall be in equilibrium (though not necessarily in stable equilibrium), then, discarding the condition that the assemblage shall be of the single-parameter type, it is possible to proceed as follows:
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References
Nowacki, W., "Homogene Raumteilung und Kristallstmktur", p. 48 (1935).
Heesch, H., and Laves, F., Z. Krist., 85, 443 (1933).
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MELMORE, S. Open Packing of Spheres. Nature 149, 412 (1942). https://doi.org/10.1038/149412a0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/149412a0
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