AP BIOLOGY

Detailed explanation-1: -A chiral molecule or ion exists in two stereoisomers that are mirror images of each other, called enantiomers; they are often distinguished as either “right-handed” or “left-handed” by their absolute configuration or some other criterion.

Detailed explanation-2: -Chirality and helicity The helicity of a particle is positive (“right-handed”) if the direction of its spin is the same as the direction of its motion. It is negative (“left-handed”) if the directions of spin and motion are opposite.

Detailed explanation-3: -An interesting aspect of most amino acids is that they exist in left and right handed forms, and this is called chirality. Life on Earth is made of left handed amino acids, and this may be a result of how these molecules formed in space.

Detailed explanation-4: -Chirality is simply a geometric property which dictates that the mirror transformation of an object is a non-identity operation, i.e. the object and its mirror image are non-superimposable by any translation or rotation.

Detailed explanation-5: -Examples of some familiar chiral objects are your hands. Your left and right hands are nonsuperimposable mirror images. (Try putting your right shoe on your left foot-it just doesn’t work.) An achiral object is one that can be superimposed on its mirror image, as shown by the superimposed flasks 25.7.