The Buck Stops Here

Neil Degrasse Tyson

You have a duty, a responsibility. Constant reader, you must stop being indifferent, stop walking dully along in your poor lives and be enlightened by this information. Likewise you must tell others. Astrophysicist Neil Degrasse Tyson also harbors the same conviction. There is information in science that just makes him "want to grab people in the street and ask 'Have you heard this?'"Take a look at the image on the right and say whoa, slow down. The purpose of our mission, if we choose accept it, and I guess you have to because whether due to a case of internet intoxication or genuine curiosity you are reading this blog, is to educate the public on the symmetry of molecules.

Three words: context is key. We will now zoom out and take a look at symmetry through the eyes of the Synthesis of Symmetry blog we have made, not through the window of one individual post. Occam's Razor states that humans look toward the simplest hypothesis (or the hypothesis that makes the fewest number of assumptions). The human mind craves simplicity. We have three laws of motion, four law of electromagnetism, and physicists today even look for the theory of everything that will encompass quantum mechanics and general relativity. Is this why symmetry is key? Is this why synthesis of symmetry is sought after? Above we have the NaNb3O6 molecule. It self assembles, equally spaced, into black crystals. Arndt Simon and Tony Cheetham and coworkers have synthesized this molecule. This is an example that the chemist Roald Hoffman uses in his essay "Molecular Beauty."

Immanuel Kant

Hitherto a hobby to indulge in, synthesizing molecules like this open doors for lucrative opportunities. Then we get into the mess of patents and the subsequent formation of a monopoly and the ethics of microeconomics. That we will not comment on, but we will on the hobby of synthesis. Professor Hoffman offers Immanuel Kant as evidence. This argument purports that it makes people feel good about themselves. This is ridiculed by the German Enlightenment philosopher. His view is that people should refrain from activities that make the individual performing them feel good. The austere nonconsequentialist would find the synthesis of symmetry immoral. If you take the views of objectivist philosopher Ayn Rand, who espouses the opposite idea, synthesis of symmetry is the morally right thing to do.
What about the age old problem of discovery vs. synthesis? It feels better to create than to discover. This is analogous to the distinction between thermodynamics and kinetics. Now, we are not longer interested in the molecule (the end product) but the process by which we derived the symmetry. To speed up the reaction, there are catalysts. Does the symmetrical properties of these catalyst affect reaction rates? New evidence suggests yes. This example of symmetrical catalysts speeds up asymmetrical reactions. Natural processes are discovered but these catalysts are synthesized. The only conclusion that can be drawn is that synthesis serves to reinforce what is already there.

Buckminsterfullerene (hard to make)

Symmetrical Enzyme

I told you context is key. I have zoomed out on the synthesis of symmetry and looked beyond the minutiae of Group Theory and numbers and what not. These are the important questions that have been answered here today. These important questions utilized the real of kinetics in symmetry to accrue an answer. Think differently about your chemistry courses and apply any subject to any line of thinking (i.e. kinetics and thermodynamics to molecular symmetry). I promise you, once you do this, you will find answers to your questions. I know I did.