Definition:Chirality
Definition
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Chirality is the property of an object of not being superimposable on its mirror image.
An object possessing such property is said chiral.
An object which can be superimposed on its mirror image is said achiral.
The concept usually applies to $2$-dimensional space or $3$-dimensional space but generalizes to higher dimensions.
Examples
Human Hand
The human hand is chiral.
Hence you cannot use a left-hand glove on your right hand.
Screw
So is a corkscrew, which is a particular instance of a screw.
Capital Letters
Some of the capitals of the latin alphabet are chiral:
- F, G, J, L, P, Q, R, S and Z.
Also see
- Results about chirality can be found here.
Historical Note
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The terms chiral and chirality were introduced by Lord Kelvin during the Second Robert Boyle Lecture, delivered before the Oxford University Junior Scientific Club on Tuesday, May 16, 1893:
- I call any geometrical figure, or group of points, chiral, and say that it has chirality if its image in a plane mirror, ideally realized, cannot be brought to coincide with itself.
Sources
- 1894: Lord Kelvin: The Molecular Tactics of a Crystal: $\S 22$
- 2020: M. Petitjean: Chirality in metric spaces (Optim Lett Vol. 14: pp. 329 – 338)