Chapter 6

BROKEN
SYMMETRY
Members:
Basa, Kyle
Canama, Juliet
Milo, Bryan
Rollon, Kayelaine
 SYMMETRY

Mathematical concept as well as an

aesthetic one
Classify and distinguish different types of
regular pattern
RADIOACTIVITY
• Discovered by great physicist
Pierre Curie and his wife, Marie
• “Effects are as symmetric as
their causes”
BILATERALLY SYMMETRIC
o Most familiar symmetric forms
o Human body
o Mirror image
o Two sides of figure occupy different regions of space; moreover;
the left side is a reversal of the right
o Must be placed on the symmetry axis
 DIFFERENT KINDS OF SYMMETRY

• Less Formally
• Reflections • Flips
• Rotations OR • Turns
• Translations • Slides
• To find where the mirror
should go, choose some point on
the original object and look at
where that point ends up when
the object is flipped.

• To rotate an object in
the plane, you choose a point, called
the center, and turn
the object about that center, as a
wheel turns about its hub.
 Symmetry Breaking
A dynamic idea describing changes
in pattern
Ripples on a pond can be example
of broken symmetry
 Spontaneous Symmetry Breaking

A phenomenon wherein the

world is full of effects that are not
symmetric as their causes
KEPLER’S THEORY OF THE SNOWFLAKE
When a snowflake alighted on Kepler’s coat as he crossed
the Charles Bridge in Prague, he marveled at its PERFECT
SIX- CORNERED SYMMETRY
 “Belousov- Zhabotinskii [B-Z]
reaction”
B. P. Belousov
• Russian Chemist
• Discovered a chemical
reaction
A. M. Zhabotinskii
• Russian Chemist
• Had modified
Belousov’s reaction