What is Symmetry in Physics? - with Tara Shears

Symmetry underlines our whole understanding of the universe. And the deeper we look, the more symmetries we find, reflecting our world in new and beautiful ways.

Symmetry is vital to understanding and predicting how our universe works. The relationship between symmetry and the mechanics of the universe is fundamental to physics. From Noether’s theorem to the new and exciting world of local symmetries being revealed by modern day physics, Tara Shears explores the physics of symmetry.

By revealing nature’s parameters, symmetry gives definition to the world as we understand it. It is a fundamental principle that makes phenomena repeatable and predictable. But if symmetries are so pervasive and influential in our world, why do we see so much asymmetry and chaos?

This animation was produced by Rosanna Wan, our 2016-17 animator-in-residence, supported by the Sfumato Foundation.

[TheRoyalInstitution]

Thank you, friend, for translating this and many other of our animations in Spanish. We like you very much. Gracias!

[proximacentaur]

Particle physics and animation work really well together. The scripting is great Tara Shears is a very good speaker

[robertschlesinger]

Nice overview on symmetry for beginning high school students.

[harrisoncleaver]

I would have appreciated more examples rather then being rushed through and being told how important it was. I don't think the feeling of the gravity of this was conveyed in its full potential.

[monkboyrc]

beautiful animation. nice and abstract information. lots to unpack here.

[AadeeshAggarwal]

Love this video
Helped me a lot
And thank you to my teacher
for showing us this

[omsingharjit]

2:28 After asking this question many times many places i found answer here about its motion.

[tsingtak]

Energy is not always conserve. When space-time changes, energy is not conserve.

[alwaysdisputin]

ScienceClic said: If you have a ball moving through outer space with constant velocity:
1st it's here:
◯ ->
then in the next second, it's here:
◯ ->
in the next second, it's here:
◯ ->
in the next second, it's here:
◯ ->
At 0:54 you said: _'If you have a system & move it to a different point in space, that system would continue to work in the same way.'_ This is a symmetry because no matter where you move the system, you see it doing the same thing.
This symmetry means that each instance of the ball is *equivalent* to the previous instance. Therefore the ball's momentum is conserved.

IMO this is a deep idea but it's quite simple so it could've gone into this Ri video. Because it didn't, IMO this video is dumbed down therefore if you tested the audience on what they learnt, you'd probably see nobody really learnt anything. BTW ScienceClic's video also has this problem: he doesn't say how time symmetry leads to conservation of energy.

[JaredJeyaretnam]

Isn't it misleading to show Gravity alongside the other forces when talking about the standard model when it's famously not explained by the model?

[ccriscris]

awesome¡ i love this video thanks for make this videos
keep doing this videos please

[NordaVinci]

What is the difference between symmetry and balance?

[alexandrugheorghe]

I love your voice!

good script as well!


LHC's failure of finding SUSY should've been mentioned in the video. but that doesn't mean we're giving up. LHC beams being upped as we speak.

[inquaanate]

Energy on the small scale is definitely conserved but on the scale of the whole universe it's a little more tricky than that.

[pexfmezccle]

I didn't wave but my reflection waved back anyway.

[dan-valentin]

can anyone leave the name of the piano song at the end ?

[arulross]

can somebody please point me to where i could start relearning math from
the ground up so I can grasp physics progressively deeper...note that I
have almost forgotten all the math i learnt in high school..like a
total nooblet

[michaelf]

Great video, now can someone explain time crystal that break the rule of time translation symmetry ???

[thstroyur]

Local, AKA gauge symmetries. Even so, they don't make CP-violation any less weird

[chefranden]

Let's not have the music overpower the speech.