Tuesday, June 14, 2005

Symmetry

One of the most important conceptual tools in modern science is the notion of symmetry. Although we all have an intuitive idea of what it means for something to be symmetrical (e.g. a circle has more symmetry than an irregular polygon), science requires a rigorous definition. An object is said to be symmetrical if it remains unchanged after a symmetry operation has been applied on it. If one object has more symmetries than another, we say it is more symmetrical. For example, a square is left unchanged by any rotation through 90o, or 180o, or 270o. Such rotations are among the symmetries of the square. An irregular polygon, on the other hand will look different after being rotated through any angle. It therefore has no symmetries: the square is more symmetrical. The most symmetrical of all such geometrical shapes that we can draw on a plane is the circle. It can be rotated through any angle between 0o and 360o. Thus the circle has an (uncountable) infinity of symmetry operations that leave it unchanged.

Now we have used the concept of symmetry as the basis of modern Physics Laws...can u tell what kind of symmetry we use in it??

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