The Origin of Handedness

Abstract

Some physical realities such as fluid vortices, certain molecular architectures, circularly polarized electromagnetic waves, screws and some crystalline patterns can exist in two geometric states that cannot be superimposed on their mirror images (see Fig. [5.1]). This property is known as handedness in reference to the word hand’. The word chirality’ (from the Greek word cheir meaning hand’) was first used by Lord Kelvin in 1893 and is more frequently used to describe the handedness of molecular architectures.