Chirality
![Two enantiomers of a generic amino acid that is chiral](/Images/godic/202501/09/Chirality_with_hands.svg1553.png")
![An achiral 3D object without central symmetry or a plane of symmetry](/Images/godic/202501/09/Orbifold_2X.2.svg1553.png")
![A table of all prime knots with seven crossings or fewer (not including mirror images).](/Images/godic/202501/09/Knot_table.svg1553.png")
![Animation of left-handed (anti-clockwise), circularly polarized, light as viewed in the direction of the source, in agreement with physics and astronomy conventions.](/Images/godic/202501/09/Circular.Polarization.Circularly.Polarized.Light_Right.Handed.Animation.305x190.255Colors1553.gif")
Chirality /kaɪˈrælɪtiː/ is a property of asymmetry important in several branches of science. The word chirality is derived from the Greek, χειρ (kheir), "hand", a familiar chiral object.
An object or a system is chiral if it is distinguishable from its mirror image; that is, it cannot be superposed onto it. Conversely, a mirror image of an achiral object, such as a sphere, cannot be distinguished from the 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 superposed on its mirror image. If the object is non-chiral and is imagined as being colored blue and its mirror image is imagined as colored yellow, then by a series of rotations and translations the two can be superposed producing green with none of the original colors remaining.