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Name:   Sandesh S.
Status:  student
Age:  16
Location: N/A
Country: N/A
Date: 2000
Question:
What exactly is a tetrahedral?

Replies:
Our teacher says that it's supposed to be a six sided figure; but the structure of methane looks somewhat triangular. And, to add to the confusion, she says that a square is tetrahedron !! Well, what exactly is it ?

(Can it be formed by sticking two egyptian pyramids along their bases?)

A tetrahedron is a solid with four faces. It has six edges. You can think of is as an Egyptian pyramid in which the base is a triangle instead of a square. Methane is tetrahedral in that its four hydrogen atoms define the vertices (points) of a tetrahedron. A square is not a tetrahedron.

Richard E. Barrans Jr., Ph.D.
Assistant Director
PG Research Foundation, Darien, Illinois


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