Sinistral and dextral, in some scientific fields, are the two types of

chirality Chirality () is a property of asymmetry important in several branches of science. The word ''chirality'' is derived from the Greek (''kheir''), "hand", a familiar chiral object. An object or a system is ''chiral'' if it is distinguishable fro ...

handedness In human biology, handedness is an individual's preferential use of one hand, known as the dominant hand, due to and causing it to be stronger, faster or more Fine motor skill, dextrous. The other hand, comparatively often the weaker, less dext ...

") or

relative direction In geometry, direction, also known as spatial direction or vector direction, is the common characteristic of all ray (geometry), rays which coincide when translation (geometry), translated to share a common endpoint; equivalently, it is the commo ...

. The terms are derived from the

Latin Latin ( or ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic languages, Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally spoken by the Latins (Italic tribe), Latins in Latium (now known as Lazio), the lower Tiber area aroun ...

words for "left" (''sinister'') and "right" (''dexter''). Other disciplines use different terms (such as

dextro- Optical rotation, also known as polarization rotation or circular birefringence, is the rotation of the orientation of the plane of polarization about the optical axis of linearly polarized light as it travels through certain materials. Circul ...

and laevo-rotary in

chemistry Chemistry is the scientific study of the properties and behavior of matter. It is a physical science within the natural sciences that studies the chemical elements that make up matter and chemical compound, compounds made of atoms, molecules a ...

, or

clockwise Two-dimensional rotation can occur in two possible directions or senses of rotation. Clockwise motion (abbreviated CW) proceeds in the same direction as a clock's hands relative to the observer: from the top to the right, then down and then to ...

and

anticlockwise Two-dimensional rotation can occur in two possible directions or senses of rotation. Clockwise motion (abbreviated CW) proceeds in the same direction as a clock's hands relative to the observer: from the top to the right, then down and then to ...

physics Physics is the scientific study of matter, its Elementary particle, fundamental constituents, its motion and behavior through space and time, and the related entities of energy and force. "Physical science is that department of knowledge whi ...

) or simply use left and right (as in

anatomy Anatomy () is the branch of morphology concerned with the study of the internal structure of organisms and their parts. Anatomy is a branch of natural science that deals with the structural organization of living things. It is an old scien ...

). Relative direction and chirality are distinct concepts. Relative direction is from the point of view of the observer; a completely symmetric object has a left side and a right side, from the observer's point of view, if the top and bottom and direction of observation are defined. Chirality, however, is observer-independent: no matter how one looks at a right-hand

screw thread A screw thread is a helical structure used to convert between rotational and linear movement or force. A screw thread is a ridge wrapped around a cylinder or cone in the form of a helix, with the former being called a ''straight'' thread and t ...

, it remains different from a left-hand screw thread. Therefore, a symmetric object has sinistral and dextral directions arbitrarily defined by the position of the observer, while an asymmetric object that shows chirality may have sinistral and dextral directions defined by characteristics of the object, regardless of the position of the observer.

Biology

Gastropods

Because the coiled

shell Shell may refer to: Architecture and design * Shell (structure), a thin structure ** Concrete shell, a thin shell of concrete, usually with no interior columns or exterior buttresses Science Biology * Seashell, a hard outer layer of a marine ani ...

s of

gastropod Gastropods (), commonly known as slugs and snails, belong to a large Taxonomy (biology), taxonomic class of invertebrates within the phylum Mollusca called Gastropoda (). This class comprises snails and slugs from saltwater, freshwater, and fro ...

s are asymmetric, they possess a quality called

–the "handedness" of an asymmetric structure. Over 90% of gastropod species have shells in which the direction of the coil is dextral (right-handed). A small minority of species and genera have shells in which the coils are almost always sinistral (left-handed). Very few species show an even mixture of dextral and sinistral individuals (for example, ''

Amphidromus perversus ''Amphidromus perversus'' is a species of air-breathing land snail, a Terrestrial animal, terrestrial pulmonate gastropod mollusc in the family Camaenidae. ''Amphidromus perversus'' is the type species of the genus ''Amphidromus'', by the subseq ...

'').''Amphidromus perversus'' (Linnaeus, 1758)

Flatfish

The most obvious characteristic of

flatfish A flatfish is a member of the Ray-finned fish, ray-finned demersal fish Order (biology), suborder Pleuronectoidei, also called the Heterosomata. In many species, both eyes lie on one side of the head, one or the other migrating through or around ...

, other than their flatness, is their asymmetric morphology: both eyes are on the same side of the head in the adult fish. In some families of flatfish, the eyes are always on the right side of the body (dextral or right-eyed flatfish), and in others, they are always on the left (sinistral or left-eyed flatfish). Primitive spiny turbots include equal numbers of right- and left-sided individuals, and are generally more symmetric than other families.

Geology

geology Geology (). is a branch of natural science concerned with the Earth and other astronomical objects, the rocks of which they are composed, and the processes by which they change over time. Modern geology significantly overlaps all other Earth ...

, the terms sinistral and dextral refer to the horizontal component of the movement of blocks on either side of a fault or the sense of movement within a

shear zone In geology, a shear zone is a thin zone within the Earth's crust or upper mantle that has been strongly deformed, due to the walls of rock on either side of the zone slipping past each other. In the upper crust, where rock is brittle, the shear ...

. These are terms of relative direction, as the movement of the blocks is described relative to each other when viewed from above. Movement is sinistral (left-handed) if the block on the other side of the fault moves to the left, or if straddling the fault the left side moves toward the observer. Movement is dextral (right-handed) if the block on the other side of the fault moves to the right, or if straddling the fault the right side moves toward the observer.

References

External links