Is Nature Symmetric? A Deeper Look

  • Thread starter Thread starter GiuseppeR7
  • Start date Start date
  • Tags Tags
    Nature Symmetric
AI Thread Summary
Nature exhibits invariance in physical laws, such as Maxwell's equations, regardless of laboratory orientation, suggesting no inherent spatial directionality. However, the discussion raises questions about why certain phenomena appear directionally biased in our observations. It is argued that while the laws of physics are symmetric, the asymmetry arises from boundary conditions rather than the laws themselves. The conversation challenges the assumption that space and matter evolved from a symmetrical state, emphasizing that boundary conditions can dictate asymmetry. Ultimately, the complexity of these interactions highlights the nuanced relationship between symmetry and the physical laws governing the universe.
GiuseppeR7
Messages
61
Reaction score
2
I guess that nature do not care about "directions". If I'm performing an experiment on (for example) light the result is invariant on the direction of the laboratory.
So why we observe directionality on the nature that we are observing around us?
Why "things" are definitively not symmetric? When the universe "was created" when and why it have taken a specific space direction?
 
Physics news on Phys.org
GiuseppeR7 said:
If I'm performing an experiment on (for example) light the result is invariant on the direction of the laboratory.

What is 'the direction of the laboratory'?

GiuseppeR7 said:
When the universe "was created" when and why it have taken a specific space direction?

I don't know what this means. The universe cannot move, only objects within the universe can move.
 
Just to be clear...if i have a lab here on Earth oriented to south the Maxwell equations (for example) are true if it is oriented to north the Mawell equations are still true and they have the same form. So nature does not have a preferred spatial direction. So why my home, for example, is facing North? Why it is not completely symmetric. Somewhere, sometime some physical phenomena have cleared displayed a preferred direction, why?
 
I don't think there's an answer to that. That just seems to be the way the laws of nature work.
 
ok
 
The laws of nature take the form of differential equations. In order to find a solution to a differential equation you need both the law and also a set of boundary conditions. Even if the law is symmetric a solution may be asymmetric if the boundary conditions are asymmetric.

Such is the case with your house. Maxwells equations do not pick out a North oriented house, but rather the boundary conditions do. As a result, even though Maxwells equations treat all directions the same, one side of your house will receive more light energy than another.
 
the house was just a metaphor...but supposing the problem to be true...why the BC are not symmetric? the problem is not solved but only transfered.
 
Why would you assume that the boundary conditions should be symmetric? This isn't a problem to be solved, just a mistaken assumption to correct.
 
I'm not talking about any pratical engineering problem. I'm just saying that space does not have any preferred direction, since no experiment, performed ideally, can spot in which direction we are pointing (just like the velocity, no experiment can say if we have speed or not...(some people say that velocity does not even exist for this reason)).
So, ASSUMING that space and the matter inside have evolved from a symmetrical state...when and why was the symmetry violated?
 
  • #10
GiuseppeR7 said:
I'm not talking about any pratical engineering problem.
Me neither. I am talking about the form of the laws of physics.
GiuseppeR7 said:
So, ASSUMING that space and the matter inside have evolved from a symmetrical state.
That is a bad assumption. The boundary conditions are not symmetrical.
 

Similar threads

Replies
11
Views
2K
Replies
4
Views
2K
Replies
5
Views
49
Replies
14
Views
5K
Replies
35
Views
431
Back
Top