Symmetry

The property of symmetry is that, in one or more directions, any action or interaction will occur equally, whether to the right or to the left (or up and down, backwards and forwards, in and out.) A reflection of that image will appear to behave the same as the original object would in the same situation.

The property of symmetry need not be valid in all directions, only in certain preferred directions. For instance, with a typed "O", the O would have the same properties and shape if it were reflected or rotated 180 degrees on it's X axis, its Y axis or its Z axis, as measured from it's exact center.

If we offset the "O" at some distance from the center, such as standing on top of the X axis, the object shape remains the same after a complete rotation, but the position of the "O" would be affected. From the sense of shape, we would say symmetry was upheld, but from the same criterion, we would say that position would not be symmetrical with a 180 degree change. For an object resting on the X axis, a 360 degree rotation would bring both the object and the position back into it's original position and location.

If we were to place an equilateral pentagon centered on a point, we could rotate the pentagon clockwise or counterclockwise in increments of 72 degrees, and it would be restored to its equivalent original shape and position. Rotating the pentagon on some axis other than a clockwise-counterclockwise direction, would not restore it to it's original position and location.

We could say that the symmetry of the original was lost, or disguised when the shape or position of the original object was found to be changed at it's final resting position.

In a somewhat similar way, everyday events which don't appear to be symmetrical, such as pushing a car to the right or to the left, and also uphill and downhill, will not produce apparently symmetrical results. If the car, and the hill were located on a merry-go-round, so that with a 360 degree rotation of the merry- go-round or of the car in a circle, then the "hidden symmetry" of this situation could be observed. In this way, from the initial description of the event, the underlying symmetry could be disguised, and hidden in a temporary situation which looked like symmetry had no bearing on this particular event.

In the same way, scientists have speculated that symmetry may play a greater role than we have heretofore expected or even imagined. Some have speculated that the four basic forces were joined, at some great and distant time in the past, and that the inherent simplicity and symmetry of the universe was obvious for all to see. As the universe expanded and cooled, the situation became more complex, and the symmetries between the four forces disappeared, hidden in the apparent complexity of our current, low density, low energy, vastly expanded universe.

By contemplating matter and energy in densities and energies presently, if not forever, outside our grasp, scientists hope to find clues which will reveal some of the suspected underlying symmetry. See the description for Supersymmetry, too.