Beginning Membranes

Surfaces and big computers

Scientists sometimes use computers to study surfaces. To do this we build surfaces out of small pieces. This is like a floor made out of many tiles or a soccer ball made out of patches sewn together.

[Picture of triangular tiling] Floors are often tiled with squares but this not the only way it can be done. Triangles can alse be used as you see in the picture below.

When studying surfaces like those of red blood cells, we are interested in how the surfaces move about. To do this we use big computers to simulate complicated surfaces and all the shapes they can have. The most powerful computers are called supercomputers
One type of supercomputer is the Cray T3E and can be big enought to fill a large room. [Picture of Cray T3E supercomputer]
One cabinet of a Cray T3E
(large systems may have 8 cabinets)
© 1998 Cray Research/Silicon Graphics. Used with permission.

The end. If you want to know more you could try looking at the intermediate level.

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