Abstract
THE recent work on particle parity stresses the need for a suitable term for the property characterizing those three-dimensional forms which are distinct from their mirror images. ‘Spirality’, even if understood in the sense of a helix, is misleading, since many forms possess a non-superimposable mirror image but no helical axis ; for example, scalene spherical triangles, isosceles tetrahedra with scalene faces, and certain types of optically active molecule. Kelvin1, Larmor2 and Eddington3 have used the term ‘chirality’, from χɛíρ hand. Chiral structures or fields are those which exist in two distinct mirror image forms, while non-chiral forms are single, possessing either a centre or a plane of symmetry.
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References
“Baltimore Lectures”, 436 (1884).
“Aether and Matter”, 142 (1900).
“Fundamental Theory”, 111 (1946).
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WHYTE, L. Chirality. Nature 180, 513 (1957). https://doi.org/10.1038/180513b0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/180513b0
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