Home » Science & Nature » Science Websites » Fractals

Fractals

© Zany

Fractals. Maybe you have seen or read about fractals, but do you know what, exactly, a fractal is? They have something to do with math and physics but do we need to be either a mathematician or physicist to enjoy them?

No! We can still delight in their beauty and have fun making our own even if we don't know the math or physics. I've found some fantastic web sites, so let's go :).

Ok, a good place to start might be a web site designed for kids. We should be safe there. Cynthia Lanius's site Fractals fits the bill. Here, fractals are defined as geometric figures with special properties. What are these properties? Self-similarity, fractal dimension and formation by interation. Hmm. Cynthia does a good job of explaining these concepts and provides an additional reference (somewhat more mathematical) if you are interested in reading further.

Did you know there are famous fractals? Three are discussed on this web site - Sierpinski Triangle, Jurassic Park (made famous by the book Jurassic Park written by Michael Crichton) and the Kock snowflake fractal. She first explains how the fractals are formed, then lets you try your hand making them using a JAVA program. It's great fun, but too many iterations might overtax your computer's resources and you'll have to reboot so don't get carried away.

Another site that you will want to explorer is Fantastic Fractals Online. First, to help you learn more about fractals, there are two tutorials. Take a peek at the kids' tutorial first. Here we find out that fractals are things that are made up of smaller versions of themselves. The tutorial illustrates this by taking a look at fractals found in nature and shows how to draw a fractal tree. The second tutorial is much more comprehensive, discussing types of fractals, their properties, how they are created and application of fractals. This site offers a computer program for creating fractals as well as message boards and a chat.

Want to learn more? How about another tutorial? Ok, click over to Fractals - An Introduction. This site takes us a bit further in our understand of fractals by introducing some of the math involved. It also has JAVA programs to create fractals and apply what you have learned.

Lastly, let's look at an application of fractals: fractal music - The Sound of Chaos. Meet musicians who make fractal music and try your hand at making your own. Or sit back and listen, then tell us what you think.

The copyright of the article Fractals in Science Websites is owned by Zany. Permission to republish Fractals in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.