This Amazingly Symmetrical World

Preface A Conversation I Symmetry Around Us Mirror Symmetry An Object and Its Mirror Twin Mirror Symmetry Enantiomorphs Other Kinds of Symmetry Rotational Symmetry Mirror-Rotational Symmetry Translational Symmetry Bad Neighbours Glide Plane (Axis) of Symmetry Borders and Patterns Borders Decorative Patterns Pattern Construction The `Lizards' Design Regular Polyhedra The Five Platonic Solids The Symmetry of the Regular Polyhedra The Uses of the Platonic Solids to Explain Some Fundamental Problems On the Role of Symmetry in the Cognition of Nature Symmetry In Nature From the Concept of Symmetry to the Real Picture of a Symmetrical World Symmetry in Inanimate Nature. Crystals Symmetry in the World of Plants Symmetry in the World of Animals Inhabitants of Other Worlds Order in the World of Atoms Molecules The Puzzle of the Benzene Ring The Crystal Lattice The Face-Centred Cubic Lattice Polymorphism The Crystal Lattice and the External Appearance of a Crystal The Experimental Study of Crystal Structures The Mysteries of Water Magnetic Structures Order and Disorder Spirality In Nature The Symmetry and Asymmetry of the Helix Helices in Nature The DNA Molecule The Rotation of the Plane of Light Polarization Left and Right Molecules. Stereoisomerism The Left-Right Asymmetry of Molecules and Life II Symmetry Around Us Symmetry and The Relativity of Motion The Relativity Principle The Relativity of Simultaneous Events The Lorentz Transformations The Relativity of Time Periods The Speed in Various Frames The Symmetry of Physical Laws Symmetry Under Spatial Translations Rotational Symmetry Symmetry in Time The Symmetry Under Mirror Reflection An Example of Asymmetry of Physical Laws Conservation Laws An Unusual Adventure of Baron Münchhausen The Problem of Billiard Balls On the Law of Conservation of Momentum The Vector Product of Two Vectors Kepler's Second Law Conservation of the Intrinsic Angular Momentum of a Rotating Body Symmetry and Conservation Laws The Relationship of Space and Time Symmetry to Conservation Laws The Universal and Fundamental Nature of Conservation Laws The Practical Value of Conservation Laws The Example of the Compton Effect Conservation Laws as Prohibiting Rules The World of Elementary Particles Some Features of Particles The Zoo of Elementary Particles Particles and Antiparticles Particles, Antiparticles and Symmetry Neutrino and Antineutrino The Instability of Particles Inter-conversions of Particles Conservation Laws and Particles Conservation of Energy and Momentum in Particle Reactions The Conservation of Electric Charge and Stability of the Electron The Three Conservation Laws and Neutrino Experimental Determination of Electron Antineutrino Electron and Muon Numbers. Electron and Muon Neutrinos The Baryon Number and Stability of the Proton Discrete Symmetries. CPT-Invariance The Ozma Problem What Is the Ozma Problem? The Ozma Problem Before 1956 The Mirror Asymmetry of Beta-Decay Processes The Mirror Asymmetry in Decay Processes and the Ozma Problem The Fall of Charge-Conjugation Symmetry Combined Parity Combined Parity and the Ozma Problem The Solution to the Ozma Problem Fermions and Bosons The Periodic Table and the Pauli Principle Commutative Symmetry. Fermions and Bosons Symmetrical and Antisymmetrical Wave Functions The Superfluidity of Liquid Helium. Superconductivity Induced Light Generation and Lasers The Symmetry of Various Interactions The Principal Types of Interactions Isotopic Invariance of Strong Interactions. The Isotopic Spin (Isospin) Strangeness Conservation in Strong and Electromagnetic Interactions Interactions and Conservations A Curious Formula The Unitary Symmetry of Strong Interactions Quark-Lepton Symmetry Quarks The Charmed World Quark-Lepton Symmetry A New Discovery A Conversation Between the Author and the Reader About the Role of Symmetry The Ubiquitous Symmetry The Development of the Concept of Symmetry Symmetry-Asymmetry On the Role of Symmetry in the Scientific Quest for Knowledge Symmetry in Creative Arts Literature