Good day. A google search for "orthotetrachidecahedrons" yields about
155 results. The word is almost always in the context of the phrase,
"The shape of plant collenchyma cells and the shape of the bubbles in
beer foam are the same—they are orthotetrachidecahedrons." My two-part
question is:

1) What does an orthotetrachidecahedron look like? (Please give a
graphic representation.)

2) Is it true that the shape of plant collenchyma cells and the shape
of the bubbles in beer foam are indeed the same?

Thank you, and good luck.

Well, fourcubed, this has been QUITE an interesting question.

When I Googled on:

Orthotetrachidecahedrons
I found the 155 pages to which you referred -- most appeared to be
collections of "factoids".

so I narrowed it down with:
Orthotetrachidecahedrons -useless -trivia -factoids -strange
which yielded 41 pages, which I went through one-by-one -- and they
were ALL collections of "factoids".

I then tried
Orthotetrachidecahedrons -beer
://www.google.com/search?hl=en&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&q=Orthotetrachidecahedrons+-beer&btnG=Google+Search
Yup, no mention of this shape for JUST collenchyma pages.

I tried http://www.onelook.com 
(a site which searches 807 dictionaries at once)
  no results
I tried http://www.snopes.com (urban myth debunking site)
  no results
I tried http://www.straightdope.com
(another urban myth debunking and bizarre factoid confirming site)
  I got a couple of interesting beer results, but not the right one:
"Why do bubbles stream from fixed spots in glasses of beer or soda
pop?"
http://www.straightdope.com/classics/a3_356b.html
"Why do the bubbles in Guinness Stout float down?"
http://www.straightdope.com/columns/000526.html

I tried Math.com's section on polyhedrons
http://www.math.com/school/subject3/lessons/S3U4L1DP.html
  there were no results for orthotetrachidecahedron or
tetrachidecahedron
There WERE results for tetradecahedron / tetrakaidecahedron
"A 14-sided polyhedron"
http://mathworld.wolfram.com/Tetradecahedron.html


Then I switched my attention to Collenchyma:

Definition of Collenchyma
"Collenchyma tissues are mainly found under the epidermis in young
stems in the large veins of leaves. The cells are composed of living,
elongated cells running parallel to the length of organs that it is
found in. Collenchyma cells have thick cellulose cell walls which
thickened at the corners."
http://www.botany.uwc.ac.za/SCI_ED/grade10/plant_tissues/collenchyma.htm

Pictures of Collenchyma cells
http://www.botany.hawaii.edu/faculty/webb/BOT410/anatweb/pages/Collenchyma-1.htm

More Pictures of Collenchyma cells
http://www.humboldt.edu/~dll2/bot105/parecoll.htm

Still More Pictures of Collenchyma cells
http://botweb.uwsp.edu/anatomy/collenchyma.htm


1) For your pictures of Collenchyma cells 
(**possibly** orthotetrachidecahedrons) 
check the following 2 links:

"Plant Tissue" - cross-section drawing of Collenchyma cells
http://users.rcn.com/jkimball.ma.ultranet/BiologyPages/P/PlantTissues.html

Go to this site and click on "Tussilago Collenchyma" on the left-hand
side menu:
http://www.wlu.ca/~wwwbiol/bio204/collenchyweb_files/frame.htm

The cell is a long and tubular; six sided; with six long compartments
separated from each other on each side by a membrane between each
compartment; leaving a hollow center.

This is "Lacunar collenchyma" (click on that phrase)
"The petiole of coltsfoot, Tussilago farfara, shows this feature."


Now for the meaning of the shape name:

"ortho- or orth -
1. Straight; upright; vertical: orthotropous. 
2. Perpendicular: orthorhombic. 
........
6. Of or relating to one of three possible isomers of a benzene ring
with two attached chemical groups in which the carbon atoms with
attached groups are adjacent: ortho-dibromobenzene."
........
Note: In the graphic representation of the benzene nucleus (see
Benzene nucleus, under Benzene), provisionally adopted, any substance
exhibiting double substitution in adjacent and contiguous carbon
atoms, as 1 & 2, 3 & 4, 4 & 5, etc., is designated by ortho-; as,
orthoxylene"
http://dictionary.reference.com/search?q=ortho

"benzene nucleus - a closed chain of 6 carbon atoms with hydrogen
atoms attached." (notice the shape resemblance to the cell drawing
above)
http://dictionary.reference.com/search?q=benzene%20nucleus

"tetra - 1. A combining form or prefix signifying four, as in
tetrabasic, tetrapetalous."
http://dictionary.reference.com/search?q=tetra

"decahedron - A polyhedron with ten faces."
http://dictionary.reference.com/search?q=decahedron


2) Although I found NO mention whatsoever of the term on ANY
botany-related site, that this cell structure is called an
Orthotetrachidecahedron I ***might*** believe.

That beer bubbles have this shape, NOT for a minute.

I think someone concocted this "factoid", put it on their web page (or
in their chain e-mail), and numerous other people wishing to post
bizarre factoids on their site copied that page (notice that many, if
not most of the 155 Google results have nearly identical contents)


I am ABSOLUTELY convinced that this statement is an urban myth.


Search Strategy

Orthotetrachidecahedron
://www.google.com/search?q=Orthotetrachidecahedron&btnG=Google+Search&hl=en&lr=&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&filter=0

Orthotetrachidecahedrons
://www.google.com/search?q=Orthotetrachidecahedrons&btnG=Google+Search&hl=en&lr=&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&filter=0

Orthotetrachidecahedrons -useless -trivia -factoids -strange
://www.google.com/search?hl=en&lr=&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&q=Orthotetrachidecahedrons+-useless+-trivia+-factoids+-strange&btnG=Google+Search&filter=0

Orthotetrachidecahedrons -beer
://www.google.com/search?hl=en&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&q=Orthotetrachidecahedrons+-beer&btnG=Google+Search

collenchyma
://www.google.com/search?hl=en&lr=&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&q=collenchyma&btnG=Google+Search

types of polyhedrons
://www.google.com/search?hl=en&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&q=types+of+polyhedrons&btnG=Google+Search


Before Rating my Answer, if you have any questions about this
information, please post a request for Clarification, and I will be
glad to see what I can do for you.

I hope that this has Answered your Question to your satisfaction!

Regards,

aceresearcher

I'm satisfied with the answer. Though I only half-heartedly believed
it to be true, I'm still disappointed that it's an urban myth. Now
that I think of it, "Orthotetrachidecahedrons" seems a likely pub
creation, perhaps concocted by a chemistry grad student whose lurid
imagination grew in proportion with the beer he consumed. For the hard
work of my researcher I leave a 3-dollar tip -- just enough for a
Boddingtons at the pub.  Please don't make up anything fantastic and
post it on the 'net.

I'll just add that if there WERE such a polyhedron, it would be called
an orthotetrakisdecahedron.

But see this geometry site - its quite cool.  The absence of what you
seek here may also be telling:
http://www.georgehart.com/pavilion.html

I concur with aceresearcher that the beer-bubble part of this is
likely to be fiction.

Most of the sites which have posted this particular factoid are
pop-trivia sites. Such sites tend to reprint errors endlessly; once a
bit of odd trivia appears once on the Web, it is often picked up and
cited over and over, without any documentation.

For example, some of the same sites that offer the bit about the beer
bubbles and the collenchyma cells also have erroneous factoids such as
"A duck's quack doesn't echo, and no one knows why" and "The airplane
Buddy Holly died in was the 'American Pie.' (Thus the name of the Don
McLean song.)"

fourcubed,

I am sorry to disappoint you with the news that this bit was an urban
myth. It WOULD be so much more interesting if it were true, wouldn't
it???

As far as making up fantastic things, I don't post them on the
Internet -- I just regale my friends with them down at the pub. If one
of them should choose to post any of my outrageous fabrications on the
web... well, you'll have to take that up with them.

However, I DO thank you for the tip, and I will raise a pint in your
honor.

Regards,

aceresearcher