If a rational God exists, then it is reasonable to expect to see signs of divine rationality in everything he has created. The good news is that we do. We see evidence of God’s rationality in the patterns we observe in nature. One of the places we see them is in the humble sunflower.
But first: some background information.
Scientists and mathematicians have known for a long time that key numbers and patterns occur in creation, being seen in things as diverse as galaxies, sea shells and flowers. Artists too have appreciated this. The most pleasing shape of a rectangle has sides with the ratio of 21 to 34. We see this ratio in the design of the Parthenon and in the features of the Mona Lisa. A rectangle with this ratio is known as the “golden rectangle”.
If you were to take two adjacent sides (a short and long side) of a golden rectangle, join them together and make a circle with them, the angle from the centre of the circle to that part of the circumference made from the short length is 137.5 degrees. This is known as “the golden angle,” and it occurs everywhere.
Another series of numbers that keeps popping up is the Fibonacci series. This is a simple progression of numbers, with the next number being the sum of the previous two numbers, i.e. 1, 2, 3, 5, 8, 13, 21, 34 and so on.
Let’s now return to our humble sunflower.
A sunflower keeps adding seeds to the outside edge of the seed head as it matures. Here’s the interesting thing: A new seed will always develop at 137.5 degrees – the golden angle (as measured from the centre of the seed head), from the previous seed.
And
The pattern of seeds in the flower head is made up of 21 left-hand spirals of seeds, and 34 right-hand patterns of seeds (which happens to be the most efficient way of packing seeds into a confined space). Both of these numbers are sequential numbers in the Fibonacci series.
And
21 and 34 is the ratio of the sides of a Golden Rectangle.
Do you want some more?
If you take a golden rectangle and draw across it so that one end makes a square, the piece remaining will be another (smaller) golden rectangle. And if you draw across this remaining rectangle to make another square, you will also be left with another golden rectangle… and so on.
If you join the same corner of these golden rectangles with a curved line, you will have a spiral. Unsurprisingly, this spiral is known as “the golden spiral”, and its shape is seen in things as diverse as spiral galaxies and spiral seashells such as the nautilus.
It is little wonder that the English physicist, Paul Dirac, said ‘God is a mathematician of a very high order, and he used very advanced mathematics in constructing the universe.’[1]
Be amazed.
[1] P. Dirac, (May 1963). “The Evolution of the Physicist’s Picture of Nature, Scientific American. Retrieved 4 April 2013.
