Aria PN » History http://www.hunafa.org Start by being just to the self. "Don't hasten the end result before completing the beginning, don't begin without looking toward the end." Thu, 14 Jan 2010 22:48:05 +0000 en hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.0 History of Broken Symmetry http://www.hunafa.org/90/history-of-broken-symmetry http://www.hunafa.org/90/history-of-broken-symmetry#comments Mon, 12 Feb 2007 14:36:23 +0000 ariapn http://www.keadilan.net/?p=90 I’m not a physicist, but this story fascinates me to no end. Human being loves symmetry and nature tends to be symmetrical. But there are instances of natural broken symmetries. Magnetism for example. When north is “preferred” than south, it breaks a symmetry.

Imagine, you come to an empty dinner table. The table is set for 10 people, and already has 10 glasses. The glasses are to the left and to the right of each chair. When all 10 people sit down, they have symmetrical arrangement. One glass on each side of everyone. But, when one person starts to drink, and he lifts the glass to his right, everybody else has to choose the glass to his right as well.

The symmetry is broken.

Maybe not everyone prefers to drink with his right hand, but his choice is already determined by the history (the first choice made). Nature is (or was) always symmetrical.

This explanation is due to Abdus Salam, 1979 Physics Nobel Prize.

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