06/16/2024
THE SEA SPONGE - THE PERFECT DESIGN
“The most perfect design I’ve ever seen.” Those words were uttered by a materials engineer after studying a deep sea sponge from the Pacific Ocean. And, indeed, the Euplectella aspergillun, claimed to be an early and primitive sponge, can teach modern materials engineers a number of useful things.
The sponge’s body is made up of a thin layer of cells over an intricate glass skeleton. The sponge grows into a cylindrical shape about 8 inches long and about an inch across. The wonder lies in the glass skeleton that is made up of vertical and horizontal beams of glass. Diagonal beams strengthen this grid. One-third of these beams are thicker than the others, adding the extra strength of ridges to the cylinder.
What’s more, each of these glass beams is made up of small cylinders of glass glued together with more glass-like tree rings. The result is a structure that spreads the pressures that might crush an ordinary glass structure this size. It is a delicate looking, but nearly unbreakable, glass structure.In a less-than-scientific test, one researcher noted that one has to jump full weight on one of these cylinders to even produce any cracking, and such jumping will still not break it. “The most perfect design I’ve ever seen,” said the researcher!
Even secular scientists have to admit when they see design.
