Naked Science Forum

General Science => General Science => Topic started by: chiralSPO on 18/10/2021 21:01:09

Title: What preposition does one use for a mirror image?
Post by: chiralSPO on 18/10/2021 21:01:09

This is both a question of grammar/convention and a question of accurate scientific usage. Feel free to comment/discuss once you have voted!

Title: Re: What preposition does one use for a mirror image?
Post by: evan_au on 18/10/2021 21:48:20

Lewis Carol's book was entitled "Through the Looking-Glass", but that was not about looking in a mirror, that was about traveling through a mirror...
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Through_the_Looking-Glass

Mirror images are chiral, Chiral...

Title: Re: What preposition does one use for a mirror image?
Post by: chiralSPO on 19/10/2021 01:25:31

Quote from: evan_au on 18/10/2021 21:48:20

Mirror images are chiral

Not all of them!

Something is chiral iff it is not identical to its mirror image. So a screw is chiral, because its mirror image would need to be turned the opposite way (reverse threaded), while a golf tee would be achiral, being indistinguishable from its own mirror image.  (It gets even more complicated if we start thinking about dynamic systems, but I'll leave it at that for now!)

Title: Re: What preposition does one use for a mirror image?
Post by: alancalverd on 19/10/2021 08:33:13

Via the mirror