Rubik’s Cube: A Magic Cube with 43 Quintillion Possible Arrangements in Your Hands
Could Professor Erno Rubik ever guess that his invention of 6-faced color cube model to help his students to perceive visually three-dimensional spatial relationships would turn out to be an absolute hit with its production having been put on a mass scale? Presently about 500,000 Rubix Cubes are sold annually all over the world. Isn’t it the best expressive evidence of Rubic Cube’s popularity? So what makes this mechanical puzzle device so magnetic?
This magic cube has 6 faces, with each one divided into 9 smaller square faces. Totally it consists of 26 smaller cubes. Fixing the central cubes to the cube’s inner core makes them rotate at the same place while only its edges and corners can actually move.
Rubicks cube was invented and designed by Erno Rubik in Budapest in the mid 1970s. He patented Cube Rubik in 1975. It’s interesting that the same puzzle device was independently invented also in Japan, by an engineer Terutoshi Ishige which was, alas, a bit late with getting his patent in Japan 1 year after Erno Rubic who entered the history so brilliantly and made his name world-famous thanks to this colorful puzzle cube.
What’s the challenge of Rubick Cube?
Its sides are of the following colors: red, green, blue, yellow, white, and orange. 6 square faces are all of the same color in its solved state. Rotate the cube and scramble colors. Then restore colors to their original place. With about 43 quintillion (4.3 × 1019) possible arrangements, there’s just one solution!
The standard side size of Rubics Cube is 2.2 in (5,7 cm) per square. Some other produced variations include the mini version – 2×2 Rubik’s Cube, the 4×4 cube (called Rubik’s Revenge) and the 5×5 rubik’s cube.
The shape also has its variations, being designed, for example, in the shape of a tetrahedral, a pyramid, and an octahedral!
Rubik Cube’s Producers
Want to swipe the cube’s pieces instead of moving them? Get Touch Cube with touch sensors from Hong Kong’s Techno Source company.
Verdes Innovations is a Greek company which makes puzzle cubes of interesting shape – V-cubes. They will definitely help to extend your capabilities in cube solving.
Maru is a popular cube brand from Taiwan produces cubes for speed-solving. They offer plenty of colors, including a transparent cube and cubes with stickers.
How fast can you restore it?
Rubik’s Cube world record is restoring it within 5,66 seconds by Feliks Zemdegs from Australia at the Melbourne Winter Open official championship in 2011.
Since its invention the cube has crossed the boundaries spreading from Hungary all over the world. No wonder, as this challenging puzzle is definitely worth to get your brain into action!