Uploaded December 2019 | Updated September 2026, 1 hour ago
A Sierpinski dodecahedron is a geometric fractal object made by taking a single dodecahedron of 12 regular pentagonal sides and replacing it with 20 smaller dodecahedrons at each corner, interconnected along their edges, creating the self-similarity of a large hollow dodecahedron made out of 20 small ones. This is iteration 1, and further iterations can be made by replacing all the new dodecahedrons with 20 more for each one, making 400, then 8000, and so on. My magnet shape here corresponds to iteration 1, a large dodecahedron of 20 smaller ones. It has a resemblance to iteration 2, or much higher iterations, because of the holes in each face of the small dodecahedrons, and because it was necessary to remove some magnets from their edges to make them bond very strongly.
Included in the video is footage of a large single dodecahedron to contrast as the starting point for iteration 1 of the fractal, and there's a little video magic you may spot partway through.
10 magnetic balls were removed from each of 3 edges of the outside of every small dodecahedron during construction. They are also reinforced with a 120 ball core of reverse polarity within to make them semisolid, and strong enough to hold up the weight of the whole structure.
I used 5mm N35 strength Neocube and Neoball magnetic balls.
The large single dodecahedron uses 12 × 571 (double layer pentagon faces of outer edge 13) + 271 (base reinforcement) = 7123 magnets.
The Sierpinski dodecahedron uses 20 × (120 (double layer core) + 12 × 30 (small pentagon faces edge 4) - 30 (removed from edges)) = exactly 9000 magnets.
180 bright gold Neoballs were used to highlight the corners of the edges, and one of the small dodecahedrons was made completely out of new Neoball additions to my old NeoQube brand collection.
Music track is Is That You or Are You You by Chris Zabriskie, from the YouTube free music library.
#ledwatchman #Neocube #Neoballs #Nanodots #ZenMagnets #Speks #Buckyballs #NingoBalls #CyberCube #KlikyBalls #NeoQube
Is That You or Are You You by Chris Zabriskie is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution license (creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/)
Source: chriszabriskie.com/reappear
Artist: chriszabriskie.com
A Sierpinski dodecahedron is a geometric fractal object made by taking a single dodecahedron of 12 regular pentagonal sides and replacing it with 20 smaller dodecahedrons at each corner, interconnected along their edges, creating the self-similarity of a large hollow dodecahedron made out of 20 small ones. This is iteration 1, and further iterations can be made by replacing all the new dodecahedrons with 20 more for each one, making 400, then 8000, and so on. My magnet shape here corresponds to iteration 1, a large dodecahedron of 20 smaller ones. It has a resemblance to iteration 2, or much higher iterations, because of the holes in each face of the small dodecahedrons, and because it was necessary to remove some magnets from their edges to make them bond very strongly.
Included in the video is footage of a large single dodecahedron to contrast as the starting point for iteration 1 of the fractal, and there's a little video magic you may spot partway through.
10 magnetic balls were removed from each of 3 edges of the outside of every small dodecahedron during construction. They are also reinforced with a 120 ball core of reverse polarity within to make them semisolid, and strong enough to hold up the weight of the whole structure.
I used 5mm N35 strength Neocube and Neoball magnetic balls.
The large single dodecahedron uses 12 × 571 (double layer pentagon faces of outer edge 13) + 271 (base reinforcement) = 7123 magnets.
The Sierpinski dodecahedron uses 20 × (120 (double layer core) + 12 × 30 (small pentagon faces edge 4) - 30 (removed from edges)) = exactly 9000 magnets.
180 bright gold Neoballs were used to highlight the corners of the edges, and one of the small dodecahedrons was made completely out of new Neoball additions to my old NeoQube brand collection.
Music track is Is That You or Are You You by Chris Zabriskie, from the YouTube free music library.
#ledwatchman #Neocube #Neoballs #Nanodots #ZenMagnets #Speks #Buckyballs #NingoBalls #CyberCube #KlikyBalls #NeoQube
Is That You or Are You You by Chris Zabriskie is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution license (creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/)
Source: chriszabriskie.com/reappear
Artist: chriszabriskie.com
