When it comes to getting from one place to another, the ideal way is a straight line. This is something that everyone knows.

Also, we know that nature is constantly trying to become better and more efficient so that it has an increased chance of survival, right?

So, one would think that there would be many examples of straight lines in nature.

At a glance, this is certainly the case. Spiders make their webs using straight lines connected together, trees try to grow straight and tall, crystals develop to have straight edges, and of course, light travels in straight lines.

If you get closer and really look at things, however, none of these are perfectly straight.

Some of them are obvious. Trees may grow upward, but they are definitely not perfectly straight. Even the silk from spider webs is not perfect once you zoom in enough.

Crystals are minerals that grow with the straightest edges known. The definition of a crystal is a mineral with straight systems of points arranged in repeated lattices. These straight edges, however, become somewhat jagged when analyzed up close.

This could be because of imperfections caused while forming through repeated heating and cooling cycles, or even due to cosmic rays that bombard the atoms while forming.

Whatever the cause, they are not an example of a straight line.

Surely light travels in a straight line though, right? One of the benefits of a laser is that it will travel great distances in a very precise way. Straight and precise enough (with sufficient energy) that it can cut through steel.

Well, even light is not perfectly straight.

All light experiences a process known as diffraction where the light spreads as it travels. This can be seen in images from space taken from the James Webb Space Telescope. Another way that light does not travel in perfectly straight lines is due to gravity.

Gravity can bend space around it, causing even light to bend while it travels.

So, while a straight line would be the ideal way to do many things both by humans and in nature, it seems to be impossible to achieve perfection in this goal.

Even a laser beam is not perfectly straight.

If you thought that was interesting, you might like to read about the mysterious “pyramids” discovered in Antarctica. What are they?