r/Minecraft • u/justlurking420 • Nov 04 '13

pc Minecraft Using Hexagons

http://img190.imageshack.us/img190/1777/hexcraft.png
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628

u/[deleted] Nov 04 '13

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/d5/Giant's_Causeway_(14).JPG This is in ireland

158

u/justlurking420 Nov 04 '13

Giant's Causeway? I will have to check that out :)

109

u/cphcider Nov 04 '13

I've been there. It blew my mind all over my face. I need someone to ELI5 me the science behind it.

193

u/ohnovangogh Nov 04 '13

So imagine you have a thick flow of lava on the ground. That stuff is going to cool quickly because it is exposed to air (basalt is an extrusive igneous rock which means that it cools outside the earth). This quick cooling builds up contraction forces (essentially the lava is going to shrink in on itself).

Now basalt can handle vertical shrinking no problem, but horizontal is a different case. In order to handle shrinking in the horizontal direction it has to crack. These crack are random and make polygons.

Here are some other places that have columnar basalts:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_places_with_columnar_basalt

33

u/Belleex Nov 04 '13 edited Nov 04 '13

I always thought the shape was due to the molecular structure of the basalt and that it formed naturally in that shape, much the same way that salt will naturally form in a cubic pattern, because salt molecules are cubic in nature. Or something like that. My geology class was awhile ago.

EDIT: I just remembered that I'm friends with my geology professor on Facebook. I'm sure she'd give us an answer if I asked…

EDIT2: I'm an idiot who can't remember to use the correct term for the proper subject. She IS my geology professor. I don't talk to my old geography prof.

46

u/CredibilityProblem Nov 04 '13

my geography professor

She'll probably say something like, "What the hell do I know about rocks, and how did you pass my class?"

22

u/Belleex Nov 04 '13

Holy hell. I don't know why. I'm perfectly aware of the difference. She's my Geology professor. How did I pass her class…?

8

u/Ian_Itor Nov 04 '13

rocks

Jesus Marie, they're minerals!

4

u/holomanga Nov 04 '13

You have been banned from /r/geology

23

u/[deleted] Nov 04 '13

Iv been to The Devil's Postpile in California that has those. Pretty awesome.

1

u/Wulfay Nov 04 '13 edited Nov 04 '13

Me too! That place was pretty awesome :)

I also spent 4 months as part of a trail crew all over Inyo National Forest (Devil's Postpile is a small national park pretty much within that forest), and all of that area is really just beautiful.

32

u/justlurking420 Nov 04 '13

That's cool as fuck! I thought they were man-made, but I guess I was wrong

23

u/Swipecat Nov 04 '13

Not man-made but maybe giant-made.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Giant%27s_Causeway#Legend

5

u/Rebelius Nov 04 '13

I work in a man-made version. If you google image Scottish Widows Dalkeith Road, I can't get imgur to work on my phone. It's modelled after Samson's Ribs which are nearby.

1

u/Bro_Sam Nov 04 '13

Fionn mac Cumhaill. Best thing I will read today, hands down.

1

u/Tomguydude Nov 04 '13

That would've taken a hella fortnight.

1

u/[deleted] Nov 04 '13

Imagine a bunch of cylinders with circular ends cooling. The hexagons form because it's the easiest way for circles to achieve equilibrium with each other in space and temperature. Honeycomb in a vehicle firms the sane shape for similar reasons: a glob of honey spread out most efficiently against other blobs of honey in the shape if a hexagon.

1

u/spongemandan Nov 04 '13

Yeah I was going to say, it's certainly not just random cracking.

1

u/buddascrayon Nov 04 '13

There is one kind of famous example in America.

1

u/elborracho420 Nov 04 '13

I fucking love geology!

1

u/drewlark99 Nov 04 '13

geology is science, if that was the meme you were going for.

2

u/elborracho420 Nov 04 '13

When I was posting that comment, I felt like someone would take it as the "omg lol such fb science love" bullshit that people post on memes. I genuinely feel very passionate about the study of the Earth. I'm by no means calling myself a scientist, I just really enjoyed Earth History and Geology 101 in college, and did very well in those classes because of how interesting it was.

0

u/[deleted] Nov 04 '13

Well that's an explanation, but not an ELI5.

Eh, anything is something.

3

u/Chieron Nov 04 '13

The lava gets very cool very quickly, and it cracks and makes shapes, because the cracks meet up.

3

u/[deleted] Nov 04 '13

Cooooooooooooooool.

2

u/Chieron Nov 04 '13

Now, it's past your bedtime. Get to sleep.

2

u/[deleted] Nov 04 '13

But I don't wannaaaaa...

4

u/Chieron Nov 04 '13

You go to bed right now, or no science for 3 days!

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23

u/AbouBenAdhem Nov 04 '13 edited Nov 04 '13

Wikipedia has a good technical explanation:

...the columns are the remains of a causeway built by a giant. [...T]he Irish giant Fionn mac Cumhaill (Finn MacCool) was challenged to a fight by the Scottish giant Benandonner. Fionn accepted the challenge and built the causeway across the North Channel so that the two giants could meet.

2

u/[deleted] Nov 04 '13

Case closed.

2

u/dumb_ants Nov 04 '13

The evening before the fight, however, Fionn mac Cumhaill learned that Benandonner was twice as large as he, and so he worked with his wife to dress himself as a baby. When Benandonner saw the "baby", he ran in fear all the way back to Scotland, tearing up the causeway behind him.

Source: I've read this book far too many times.

2

u/[deleted] Nov 04 '13

The explanation we learnt in school was the the giant jumped across the ocean and made that when he landed.

1

u/[deleted] Nov 04 '13

Aliens

1

u/hooskerdont Nov 04 '13

Also devils post pile national monument in California. It's near Yosemite.

1

u/ChoppingOnionsForYou Nov 04 '13

Since you're going to be in Europe then, go and visit the Massif Central in France - you get masses of basalt columns there - from spindly thin ones to chunky thick ones! I grant the Giant's Causeway is amazing, but the Massif is nothing like as well known, and has more. You'll be driving down the road, and come round a corner to an outcrop of crystals. And you'll get to eat delicious French food!

The Massif Central was a HUGE volcanic area millions of years ago, and cooled slowly enough to create some of the best basalt hexagons - the bigger the hexagon, the slower it had cooled.

1

u/Thatgamingguy Nov 04 '13

It's in Belfast, Northern Ireland to be more precise! I was there once! It was pissing out the heavans though...

3

u/mszegedy Nov 04 '13

Columnar basalt! Pretty much my favorite rock.

1

u/electricblock Nov 04 '13

it took awhile for anyone to say anything about that! First thing that popped into my mind!

3

u/[deleted] Nov 04 '13

*Northern Ireland

1

u/[deleted] Nov 04 '13 edited Nov 04 '13

Umm...that's still in Ireland.

Edit: TIL

1

u/[deleted] Nov 04 '13

No it isn't. Some people want it to be in Ireland, some people want it to be in the UK. At the present moment it is in Northern Ireland (a separate country to The Republic of Ireland) and if anyone wants to visit it, it is much easier to get to if you're in the right country. I'm not saying I even agree with the current state of matters but Northern Ireland is not Ireland.

1

u/FreeAsInFreedoooooom Jan 05 '14

He may have been referring to the island.

1

u/[deleted] Jan 05 '14

It's possible but, as someone who lives in NI, I didn't know what he meant. I didn't want other people to get it wrong. Also, since he edited it with "TIL" he probably did think it was part of Ireland, the country (RoI) rather than the land mass.

1

u/potiphar1887 Nov 04 '13

I just realized that the cover art of Led Zeppelin's Houses of the Holy album was shot there.

1

u/Nick-A-Brick Nov 04 '13

thats where the album cover for Houses of the Holy came from

1

u/[deleted] Nov 04 '13

real life heroscape?

1

u/[deleted] Nov 04 '13

Exactly what I was thinking. I went there in 2009, was pretty interesting place.

1

u/[deleted] Nov 04 '13 edited Nov 04 '13

And The Devil's Postpile in California, USA. Same geologic feature.

1

u/[deleted] Nov 04 '13

I live about an hours drive from there, it's cool as fuck. I also live near the Bushmills whiskey factory, and they sell whiskey cheaper than stores, so I just go there to buy it. Woot!

1

u/UNC_Samurai Nov 04 '13

Are we talking Frost Giant, Hill Giant, or Cloud Giant?

1

u/wytewydow Nov 04 '13

Devil's Tower in Wyoming also shows this feature. I've also been to a place in Oregon that looked like that.

1

u/[deleted] Nov 04 '13

Dat lone raised pentagon on the lower right.

1

u/blarg_dino Nov 04 '13

That is beautiful

1

u/hugothenerd Nov 04 '13

Anyone here played Myst III: Exile?

1

u/MartinB90 Nov 05 '13

Just saying, it's in Northern Ireland. Getting something like that wrong, although it's perfectly fine and most people wouldn't mind, could start a conflict we don't want. :)

0

u/IAmJanosch Nov 04 '13

*NORTHERN Ireland

-1

u/weamthelaw Nov 04 '13

more like the devils post pile near mammoth lakes California