In this image, computer science not only meets art, but simulates nature.
Produced by Ken Musgrave, a professor of electrical engineering and
computer science at George Washington University, "Fractal Mandala" is the
three-dimensional end product of a computer simulation process known as
"diffusion-limited aggregations." In such a simulation, a single sphere is
fixed in space. Other spheres that move in random ways are introduced.
When any of the wandering spheres touch the fixed sphere, they stick.
Adding 10,000 spheres produces a picture such as this, an object that is
similar in some respects to objects common in nature -- in soot,
interstellar dust grains and even fish feces drifting to the bottom of the
ocean.
See A Jurassic Park Fractal at the site, The Fractals Unite for Elementary and Middle School Students.
