Page 1 of 1

[2017-10-22] Topology

Posted: Sun Oct 22, 2017 2:13 pm
by kaitou
How does one inflate a Klein bottle (since inflating is putting air (or some other gas) inside a container)?

"Damn you, math!"

Re: [2017-10-22] Topology

Posted: Sun Oct 22, 2017 2:35 pm
by NotATopologist
Obiously, any "real" 3d representation of a klein bottle will have walls with thickness greater 0. You could inflate those walls, like a twisted air mattress. Where's the kickstarter?

Re: [2017-10-22] Topology

Posted: Mon Oct 23, 2017 2:50 am
by J Arthur
The same way one exflates it.

Re: [2017-10-22] Topology

Posted: Mon Oct 23, 2017 9:35 am
by gvest
There is a much simpler way of solving this problem- simply having sex outside one thing but inside another (which also contains the first thing.)
Unless the whole point was to engage in mental masturbation...

Re: [2017-10-22] Topology

Posted: Mon Apr 22, 2019 6:21 pm
by NeatNit
(bump!)

The simplest way I can think of is to not have the hole cut in the intersection. That way there is, in fact, an inside and an outside, with no way to get from one to the other (save for an inflation hole presumably installed). Arguably it misses the point of being a Klein bottle, being nothing more than a weirdly-shaped beach ball, but to some extent all 3D Klein bottles are compromises anyway because of this intersection so I'm not that worried about it.

Surprisingly, a Google search for "inflatable Klein bottle" finds nothing relevant! I think it's likely that someone has tried that, so it's likely that it doesn't work, i.e. isn't rigid enough or doesn't look very good when inflated. What a shame. I'd be happy to be proven wrong though!


Link to the comic: https://www.smbc-comics.com/comic/topology

Re: [2017-10-22] Topology

Posted: Mon Apr 22, 2019 11:29 pm
by AlixeTiir
NeatNit wrote:I think it's likely that someone has tried that ... I'd be happy to be proven wrong though!
CHALLENGE ACCEPTED.

however, being that I have no skill at making inflatable objects nor anything useful, I defer to that other guy.
NotATopologist wrote:Where's the kickstarter?