{"id":204,"date":"2017-08-09T19:21:21","date_gmt":"2017-08-09T19:21:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/home.physics.wisc.edu\/gilbert2\/?page_id=204"},"modified":"2026-10-05T07:05:47","modified_gmt":"2026-10-05T07:05:47","slug":"sea-urchin-teeth","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/home.physics.wisc.edu\/gilbert\/sea-urchin-teeth\/","title":{"rendered":"Sea Urchin Teeth"},"content":{"rendered":"

Sea Urchin Teeth<\/h1>\n\n\n
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Data from ref. 1.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The teeth of sea urchins are among the most complicated structures in the natural world. The image here shows the cross section of one tooth which looks a bit like a mushroom. In the higher magnification image, you can appreciate the details of imbricated minerals: the elongated structures are plates (the rounded ones are fibers) and these both are entirely made of calcite. The space between fibers and plates is completely filled by high-Mg calcite nanoparticles ten nanometers in size.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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  1. C. E. Killian, R. A. Metzler, Y. T. Gong, T. H. Churchill, I. C. Olson, V. Trubetskoy, M. B. Christensen, J. H. Fournelle, F. De Carlo, S. Cohen, J. Mahamid, A. Scholl, A. Young, A. Doran, F. H. Wilt, S. N. Coppersmith, and P.U.P.A. Gilbert.
    Self-sharpening mechanism of the sea urchin tooth.
    Adv. Funct. Mater. 21, 682-690 (2011).<\/span>    PDF<\/a>\n