How pearls get their perfect spherical shape

The mystery of how pearls form into the most perfectly spherical large objects in nature may have an unlikely explanation.

The mystery of how pearls form into the most perfectly spherical large objects in nature may have an unlikely explanation.

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Julyan Cartwright, Antonio G Checa and Marthe Rousseau point out that the most flawless and highly prized pearls have perhaps the most perfectly spherical, or ball-like, shape among all the objects in nature that are visible without a microscope.

Pearls develop as nacre (mother of pearl) and other liquids accumulate around grains of sand.