Platonic Solids

We have talked about regular polygons in previous sections, and we have explored polyhedra as well. Now let us take a look at what are known as regular polyhedron. A regular polyhedron is a convex polygon whose faces are bounded by congruent convex polygons whose dihedral angles are congruent. Named after the Greek philosopher Plato, these 5 "Platonic solids" were thought to represent elements of the natural world. These are listed below.


Tetrahedron (fire)	Hexahedron (earth)	Octahedron (air)	Dodecahedron (universe)	Icosohedron (water)

Each solid is named by the number of faces it has. Recall from previous discussions that Tetra means four. For your first investigation, complete the chart below. Use the example for a Tetrahedron to help guide you. When you are through, print out the page, and hand it in.

Student Name:

Regular Solid	Number of Faces	Type of Faces	Number of Faces at each Vertex	Total Number of Faces	Total Number of Edges
Tetrahedron	4	triangular regions	3	4	6
Hexahedron
Octahedron
Dodecahedron
Icosohedron