CHIRALITY

(Redirected from Chiral)

:''For the manga by Satoshi Urushihara, see Chirality (manga).
'Chirality' (Greek ''handedness'', derived from the word stem ''χειρ~, ch[e]ir~ - hand~'') is an asymmetry property important in several branches of science. An object or a system is called 'chiral' if it differs from its mirror image, and its mirror image cannot superimpose on the original object. 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 superimposed 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.

★ The chirality of supermarkets. This informal usage, increasingly common on Usenet, refers to the relative placing of the entrance and the tills.

Contents

See also

See also

★ Handedness

★ Rigid body

★ Symmetry