Pyramid

Geometric shape
formed by connecting
a polygonal base

A pyramid is a geometric shape formed by connecting a polygonal base and a point called the apex by triangular faces. When unspecified the base is usually assumed to be square. One of the platonic solids, the tetrahedron, is a triangular pyramid. The square and pentagonal pyramids can also be constructed with all faces regular, and so count among the Johnson solids. All pyramids are self-dual. The volume of a pyramid is A × h / 3, where A is the area of the base and h the height from the base to the apex.

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Structures

Pyramid-shaped structures were built by many ancient societies. The most famous are the Egyptian pyramids – huge pyramids built of brick or stone, used as tombs for pharaohs. The Great Pyramid of Giza is one of the Seven Wonders of the World, and the only one of the seven to survive into modern times. The ancient Egyptians smoothed the faces of their pyramids with gold and marble, though some of the stones used for the purpose have fallen out over the centuries.

To the south of Egypt the Nubians also built pyramids. They built far more than the Egyptians, but they are much smaller. The Nubian pyramids were constucted at a much steeper angle than Egyptian ones and were not tombs, but monuments to dead kings. Pyramids were built in Nubia up until the 300s AD.

The Mesopotamians also built pyramids called ziggurats, with a distinct series of layers. In ancient times these were brightly painted. Since they were constructed of mud-brick, little remains of them. The biblical Tower of Babel is believed to be a Babylonian ziggurat.

A number of Mesoamerican cultures also built pyramid-shaped structures. These were also usually stepped, with temples on top, more similar to the Mesoptamian ziggurat than the Egyptian pyramid. The largest pyramid by volume is that of Cholula, in the Mexican state of Puebla.

There are other pyramid-shaped ancient monuments found in Central America and parts of Asia.

Pyramids were also found in Greece. One of these pyramids in Greece is older than the pyramid of Cheops, as it was dated to 2720 B.C.

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Modern pyramids

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Esotericism

Esotericists have attributed remarkable properties ("pyramid power") to the pyramid shape and remarkable histories to historical pyramid buildings. The Great Pyramid of Giza has attracted special interest.

The pyramid shape is alleged, among other things, to keep razor blades sharp and to prevent meat from decaying. Researchers adhering to strict scientific standards have not substantiated these claims.

When a Czech engineer, Karel Drbal, took a model pyramid to the patent office in Prague and told them it would sharpen blunt razor blades left under it, the staff refused to believe him. Only after their chief scientist tried it himself and found that it worked was Drbal's "invention" registered Patent No. 91304.

That was in 1959. But the idea was as old as the ancient Egyptians.

Drbal got his idea after reading about the experiments of a frenchman named Bovis who, on a visit to the Great Pyramid, found that small desert animals which had wandered into the pharaoh's chamber and died, yet had not decayed. Bovis wondered if it had been the pyramids themselves which had somehow preserved bodies so well, rather than the mummifications methods of the ancient Egyptians.

Bovis experimented with a scaled down model of the pyramid, placing inside it a number of highly perishable foods. They were preserved far beyond their usual life span, and he came to the conclusion that this must have something to do with the pyramid's actual shape. Hearing of Bovis experiments, Drbal wondered if the same principles might also apply to the corrosion in metal. Apparently they did, for out of the tests was born Patent No. 91304.

At one point there was a flourishing factory in Czechoslovakia, where razor blades were scarce, turning out plastic-foam models of the pyramids for sharpening blades.

Why they work and how they work, no one knows. A razor-blade edge is made of a fine layer of crystals- so fine it is believed that the mere pressure of moonlight can rub them off and blunt the blade- and it could be that the pyramid shape somehow focuses or concentrates energy on to them.

To test Drbal's sharpener, make a cardboard pyramid. The four sides should be 15.7 to 14.94 in whatever units of measurements are used. Fix the sides together with adhesive tape so the height of the pyramid is 10 units. Place the pyramid so that the base lines face magnetic north-south and east-west. Make a stand 3.33 units high (or a third up), and place it in the centre of the pyramid.The sharp edges of the razor blade should face east-west when placed on the stand. Keep the pyramid away from and electrical equipment. The pyramid should also preserve perishable material such as meat or eggs, but only for a short while.

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