This article was published in Scientific American’s former blog network and reflects the views of the author, not necessarily those of Scientific American
Video of the Week #87, April 10th, 2013:From:Meet the Mandelbulb by Jennifer Ouellette at Cocktail Party Physics. Source: juanjgon on Vimeo
Animated Mandelbulb from juanjgon on Vimeo.
On supporting science journalism
If you're enjoying this article, consider supporting our award-winning journalism by subscribing. By purchasing a subscription you are helping to ensure the future of impactful stories about the discoveries and ideas shaping our world today.
In the world of fractals, the Mandelbrot Set is a stunning geometrical shape that results when you take a particular equation and apply it to a number, and then to the result, and then to each subsequent result after, ad infinitum. But what happens when you go from two dimensions to three? You get a "Mandelbulb." And if you want to see how such a shape evolves over time, check out this stunning computer animation of a Mandelbulb modeling the movement of 250,000,000 particles.