Would the universe rotate plane polarized light?

[Spirochete]

In organic chemistry we recently learned something about chemical reactions: A reaction between two symmetrical (achiral) molecules will always yield either a symmetrical product or equal mixtures of two mirror images (racemic mixtures). A reaction involving asymmetrical (aka chiral) molecules may yield any possible product. Thus symmetry is always preserved, but asymmetry may yield symmetry.

Given billions of years of chemical reactions, regardless of what molecules we started with it would seem that we are proceding toward symmetry. Does this mean that the universe must be composed entirely, or virtually entirely, of some combination of achiral molecules and racemic mixtures?

 

[Aaron Bex]

That is an interesting question! It seems that if the universe is indeed composed of symmetrical molecules and racemic mixtures, then the process of attaining that symmetry would be long and difficult. From what we know about chemistry, a reaction between two asymmetrical (chiral) molecules can yield any possible product, which means that there could be a lot of different outcomes and it could take a very long time before the universe reaches a state of symmetry. However, it is worth noting that the universe is constantly evolving and changing, so even if it does reach a state of symmetry eventually, it may not remain that way for very long.