Chirality

Look up chirality in Wiktionary, the free dictionary.

Chirality, or "handedness", (Greek, χειρ, kheir: "hand") is a property of asymmetry important in several branches of science.

An object or a system is chiral if it cannot be superposed on its mirror image. A chiral object and its mirror image are called enantiomorphs (Greek opposite forms) or, when referring to molecules, enantiomers. A non-chiral object is called achiral (sometimes also amphichiral) and can be superposed on its mirror image.

Chirality may also refer to:

• Chirality (chemistry) of some molecules
• Chirality (mathematics) of mathematical objects
• Chirality (physics) of some subatomic particles
• The chirality of certain crystalline solids. Of the 230 existing space groups 65 are chiral. Sodium chlorate is an achiral ionic compound but crystallizes in a chiral P2₁3 space group. An example of an achiral organic compound forming chiral crystals is benzil. Racemic acid is the racemic form of tartaric acid forming a mixture of two enantiomorphic crystals each form consisting of one of the two enantiomers.
• The chirality of surfaces. Materials with bulk chirality can be cleaved exposing a chiral surface.
• Chirality (electromagnetics) is an indication of the direction of the rotation of the electric and magnetic fields of a circularly-polarized wave.
• Chirality (manga)
• Chirality is important in forensic science, as it can indicate whether a knot was tied by a left- or right-handed person.

See also

• Handedness
• Rigid body
• Symmetry

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