This article is about the absence of symmetry. For a specific use in mathematics, see asymmetric relation.

Asymmetry is both the absence of symmetry, and a fundamental basis for symmetry. Symmetry analysis may result in the identification of a fundamental region that is the smallest element required to explain the repetition that forms a pattern. The fundamental region is asymmetrical. February 2006 : ← - January - February - March - April - May - June - July - August - September - October - November - December- → 1 February 2006 (Wednesday) Governor of West Virginia Joe Manchin asks for a halt in coal mining following two more coal mining deaths in the state that saw fourteen people die in coal mining disasters in... Square with symmetry group D4 Symmetry is a characteristic of geometrical shapes, equations, and other objects; we say that such an object is symmetric with respect to a given operation if this operation, when applied to the object, does not appear to change it. ... Euclid, detail from The School of Athens by Raphael. ... In mathematics, a binary relation R on a set X is antisymmetric if it holds for all a and b in X that if a is related to b and b is related to a then a = b. ... Square with symmetry group D4 Symmetry is a characteristic of geometrical shapes, equations, and other objects; we say that such an object is symmetric with respect to a given operation if this operation, when applied to the object, does not appear to change it. ...

While symmetry is a characteristic of geometrical shapes, equations, and other objects; as well as things that are in nature (left/right brain, sun, crystals, ... ), asymmetry is fundamental feature of natural processes. Asymmetry of time, thermodynamical processes, vertical asymmetry of bodies, cosmic asymmetry breaking, molecular asymmetry, etc. Physical processes at the microscopic level are either entirely or mostly (see below) time symmetric, meaning that the theoretical statements that describe them remain true if the direction of time is reversed; yet when we describe things at the macroscopic level it often appears that this is not the case...

Louis Pasteur believed: Louis Pasteur (December 27, 1822 – September 28, 1895) was a French microbiologist and chemist. ...

Only products originating under the influence of life are asymmetrical, because the cosmic [i.e. generative, life] forces that preside over their formation are themselves asymmetrical. Asymmetry differentiates the organic world and the mineral world.

Asymmetry in organisms

Due to how cells divide in organisms, asymmetry in organisms is fairly unusual, with biological symmetry clearly being more common. There are a number of reasons asymmetry may occur though. It has been suggested that extracellular be merged into this article or section. ... In biology and ecology, an organism (in Greek organon = instrument) is a complex adaptive system of organs that influence each other in such a way that they function as a more or less stable whole and have properties of life. ... The elaborate patterns on the wings of butterflies are one example of biological symmetry. ...

• Certain disturbances during the development of the organism, resulting in birth defects.
• Injuries after cell division that cannot be biologically repaired, such as a lost limb from an accident.
• Essential asymetry and important evolutionary traits, such as the left human lung being smaller than the right to make room for the heart. Humans in turn only have one heart, but this is likely due to a shift from a more central position during evolution, since it is still a bilateral symmetry (it has two ventricles and two atriums), like e.g. the nose, albeit slightly distorted, with some parts of the heart larger than others.

Among many organisms, since birth defects and injuries are likely to indicate a poor health of the organism, defects resulting in asymmetry are often looked as negative traits when it comes to partnership and reproduction. A congenital disorder is a medical condition or defect that is present at or before birth (for example, congenital heart disease). ... A limb (from the Old English lim) is a jointed appendage of the human or animal body; a large or main branch of a tree; a representative, branch or member of a group or organization. ... Trinomial name Homo sapiens sapiens Linnaeus, 1758 Humans, or human beings, are biologically classified as bipedal primates belonging to the mammalian species Homo sapiens (Latin for wise man or thinking man) under the family Hominidae (the great apes). ... The lungs flank the heart and great vessels in the chest cavity. ... The heart and lungs, from an older edition of Grays Anatomy. ... In the heart, a ventricle is a chamber which collects blood from an atrium (another heart chamber) and pumps it out of the heart. ... In anatomy, the atrium (plural: atria) is the blood collection chamber of a heart. ... Human nose in profile You may be looking for Nose, a town in Japan, or The Nose, a story by Nikolai Gogol and an opera by Dmitri Shostakovich. ...

Examples of asymmetry in nature

• Clausius' Second Law: There is no thermodynamic process whose sole effect is to extract a quantity of heat from a colder reservoir and deliver it to a hotter reservoir.

• Pasteur's molecular asymmetry: The lack of some elements of symmetry is necessary to have left- and right-handed molecules.

• Asymmetric cell divisions. [Yuh-Nung and Lily Yeh, 1999]

• Charge-symmetry breaking in physics, the mechanism responsible for protons and neutrons having different masses.

• Distribution of income in economics.

This article or section does not cite its references or sources. ...

Images

Geometry puzzle asymmetry.

Molecular asymmetry.

Many animals display symmetry along one axis and asymmetry along another.

Asymmetry of the body.

Time is unidirectional.

The asymmetry of the asteroid and "nub" and the south pole is suggestive that it suffered a large impact event.

Earth's shape is symmetrical, while it's asymmetrical in other ways - form of continents, rotation, etc.

Image File history File links Download high resolution version (1341x1865, 720 KB) Procyon lotor de: Ein Waschbär en: A Raccoon fr: Un Raton Laveur es: Uno Mapache it: Uno Procione Lavatore pt: Guaxinim ro: Un raton ru: енот sv: tvättbjörn March 2005 de:Kölner Zoo, Cologne Photo... Image File history File links Download high resolution version (1341x1865, 720 KB) Procyon lotor de: Ein Waschbär en: A Raccoon fr: Un Raton Laveur es: Uno Mapache it: Uno Procione Lavatore pt: Guaxinim ro: Un raton ru: енот sv: tvättbjörn March 2005 de:Kölner Zoo, Cologne Photo... Image File history File links Vesta-HST.jpg Description: A NASA Hubble Space Telescope image of the asteroid Vesta, taken in May 1996 when the asteroid was 175 million kilometers from Earth. ... Image File history File links Vesta-HST.jpg Description: A NASA Hubble Space Telescope image of the asteroid Vesta, taken in May 1996 when the asteroid was 175 million kilometers from Earth. ... Image File history File linksMetadata Download high resolution version (3000x3002, 6358 KB) The Blue Marble: This photo is of Africa, Antarctica, and the Arabian Peninsula as taken en route to the Moon by Apollo 17s Harrison Schmitt on December 7, 1972. ... Image File history File linksMetadata Download high resolution version (3000x3002, 6358 KB) The Blue Marble: This photo is of Africa, Antarctica, and the Arabian Peninsula as taken en route to the Moon by Apollo 17s Harrison Schmitt on December 7, 1972. ... Earth is the current Good Article Collaboration of the week! Please help to improve this article to the highest of standards. ...

References

• Yuh-Nung Jan and Lily Yeh Jan, 1999. Asymmetry across species. Nature Cell Biology 1, E42 - E44

See also

• Kepler, (1611) Strena sue de nive sexangula (On the Six-Cornered Snowflake) - discusses (among other things) symmetry properties of minerals and trees.