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| Leonardo da Vinci's Virtuvian Man |
The human body is made up of several different components, and oddly, it is rather symmetric. Leonardo da Vinci was the first man to find this out when he painted the Virtuvian Man at about 1487. In the diagram to the right, da Vinci determined that humans demonstrate symmetry along the y-axis, assuming that the center of the head is in the middle of the y- axis. According to da Vinci, it is no coincidence that humans have two arms of the same length, two legs of the same length, two ears of the same length, and two eyes of the same length which are all the same distance from the center of the body.
But what would happen if a human's symmetry is altered? If a man or woman lost his/ her "symmetry" by losing a leg, due to a random disease such as symmetrical peripheral gangrene (you might not want to click on this if you are squeamish), he would be unstable. That is, he/ she would fall over when trying to get out of bed, or he/ she would fall down when trying to walk. Unless this patient was able to get a prosthetic limb, we can claim that he/ she will not be able to function effectively. After realizing that this person cannot live the rest of his/ her live without a prosthetic, he/ she would eventually go out and buy one. Surprisingly, this is actually quite different for symmetric compounds (of course the compound will not go out to the nearest element store and buy the necessary atom, but you get my gist).
We all know that the more symmetric a compound is, the more stable it is. However, symmetry is not synonymous with effectiveness. Symmetry in protein structures leads to an increased stability, but compounds that are perfectly symmetrical actually can become more functional as they shy away from this flawless symmetry (this is all relative to the desired activity of the compound). This concept is quite different from human beings as a man with one arm will definitely be much more functional if he were to have his arm back... or will he be? It is all relative to the desired function of the person. Is there any activity that YOU think a person who has lost his symmetry will be more effective at?
But what would happen if a human's symmetry is altered? If a man or woman lost his/ her "symmetry" by losing a leg, due to a random disease such as symmetrical peripheral gangrene (you might not want to click on this if you are squeamish), he would be unstable. That is, he/ she would fall over when trying to get out of bed, or he/ she would fall down when trying to walk. Unless this patient was able to get a prosthetic limb, we can claim that he/ she will not be able to function effectively. After realizing that this person cannot live the rest of his/ her live without a prosthetic, he/ she would eventually go out and buy one. Surprisingly, this is actually quite different for symmetric compounds (of course the compound will not go out to the nearest element store and buy the necessary atom, but you get my gist).
We all know that the more symmetric a compound is, the more stable it is. However, symmetry is not synonymous with effectiveness. Symmetry in protein structures leads to an increased stability, but compounds that are perfectly symmetrical actually can become more functional as they shy away from this flawless symmetry (this is all relative to the desired activity of the compound). This concept is quite different from human beings as a man with one arm will definitely be much more functional if he were to have his arm back... or will he be? It is all relative to the desired function of the person. Is there any activity that YOU think a person who has lost his symmetry will be more effective at?
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