chirality

English
WOTD – 18 September 2012
These two amino acids are mirror images of each other but they are otherwise identical, like left and right hand; hence, they are chiral.

Etymology

From chiral +‎ -ity = chir- +‎ -ality.

Pronunciation
  • enPR: kīrăl'ĭtē, IPA(key): /kaɪˈɹælɪti/
  • Audio (US)(file)
  • Rhymes: -ælɪti

Noun

chirality (countable and uncountable, plural chiralities)

  1. The phenomenon, in chemistry, physics and mathematics, in which objects are mirror images of each other, but are otherwise identical; handedness

Synonyms

Derived terms
  • axial chirality

Translations

See also
This article is issued from Wiktionary. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.