Yoichiro Nambu, Makoto Kobayashi, and Toshihide Masukawa awarded the Nobel Prize in Physics for their discoveries about symmetry breaking.
James Trefil explains symmetry breaking using the snowflake as an example: ‘Both the hydrogen and oxygen molecules are quite symmetric when they are isolated. The electric force which governs their actions as atoms is also a symmetrically acting force. But when their temperature is lowered and they form a water molecule, the symmetry of the individual atoms is broken as they form a molecule with 105 degrees between the hydrogen-oxygen bonds. When they freeze to form a snowflake, they form another type of symmetry, but the symmetry of the original atoms has been lost. Since this loss of symmetry occurs without any external intervention, we say that it has undergone spontaneous symmetry breaking.’
via Treehugger
Superman Returns hd The Case of Unfaithful Klara trailer Pay It Forward move