Polkadot - A 3D Tour
Parachains
Below is an example of the Polkadot network with 10 parachains (this number will increase in reality and is not static). The image below represents a snapshot in time. The current block in the relay chain is represented by the blue block at the centre. Each of the 10 parachains has a green block.
What are those shapes?
I have tried to use the same symbols as the Polkadot light paper (See image below). The light paper can be found here. It's a good read!
Adding a time dimension
Blocks are connected sequentially starting with the genesis block (the first block ever created). For this reason I diverted a little from the light paper and used a line of blocks, rather than a circle, to represent the relay chain. Below you can see past blocks on the left. In reality the Polkadot blockchain is much longer than shown below. At the time I wrote this, there was over 1.3 million blocks generated. A block is created (roughly) every 6 seconds. You can watch the blocks being created here.
What about Bridges?
Bridges will allow Polkadot to talk to, say, Algorand. In fact the Moonbeam Project aims to do exactly that and make a bridge to Algorand. My model does not show a bridge to the Algorand Blockchain, but I plan on upgrading it to incorporate a bridge. A fly around video of the model will need to made once it increases in complexity; the image might get a bit too crowded. Stay tuned.
Note: happy to hear any advice on how I can improve the model. I'm pretty sure my information is factual. If you see an error let me know in the comments :)
Tips - If you're feeling incredibly generous...
DOT
15oDRpuUa4NhN8shL8LPDNs1QJpHHuGG2mui4fWZKJWgzAg6
ALGO
XNSDYCBBJVRHZUF5KLRHV73QWULH7DEE24ABMHHQ7HJD73UVVVKNI2WLAY