Quote:
Originally Posted by murrmac123
Hmm...I'm not sure about that, redir.
An egg isn't spherical, and the "design" of the egg is such that it can withstand a far greater degree of compression (applied endwise) than it ever could if it were perfectly spherical.
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I should probably have said spheroidal. In a former life I was a Geologist(so this is how I still think), the common response in defense of weathering of rock for example is to round off. That's why pebbles that bounce their way down stream from the mountain tops that flow all the way to the ocean end up as round rocks deposited as sand. Not necessarily a sphere per se but rounded.
But anyway, an arch is also spheroidal and a very strong construct for similar reasons. Points erode away first and become round in the response to what ever force is eroding it. It's a defense mechanism if you will. Likewise points are areas of increased stress.