''The Left Hand of the Electron'' is a collection of seventeen nonfiction science essays by American writer and scientist
Isaac Asimov
yi, יצחק אזימאװ
, birth_date =
, birth_place = Petrovichi, Russian SFSR
, spouse =
, relatives =
, children = 2
, death_date =
, death_place = Manhattan, New York City, U.S.
, nationality = Russian (1920–1922)Soviet (192 ...
, first published by
Doubleday & Company in 1972. It was the ninth of a series of books collecting essays from ''
The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction''. The title comes from the topic of the first section which deals with
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 from ...
of
electroweak interactions and chirality of
organic compounds and the possible connection between the two. Other essays in this book concern the effect of electron-spin direction on molecular structure e.g. the "Inverse Sugar" (similar to
Inverted sugar syrup) in
honey
Honey is a sweet and viscous substance made by several bees, the best-known of which are honey bees. Honey is made and stored to nourish bee colonies. Bees produce honey by gathering and then refining the sugary secretions of plants (primar ...
with philosophical reflections on the minority of
left handedness
In human biology, handedness is an individual's preferential use of one hand, known as the dominant hand, due to it being stronger, faster or more dextrous. The other hand, comparatively often the weaker, less dextrous or simply less subject ...
in general.
Chapters
*A — The Problem of Left and Right
**1 — Odds and Evens
**2 — The Left Hand of the Electron
**3 — Seeing Double
**4 — The 3-D Molecule
**5 — The Asymmetry of Life
*B — The Problem of Oceans
**6 — The Thalassogens
**7 — Hot Water
**8 — Cold Water
*C — The Problem of Numbers and Lines
**9 — Prime Quality
**10 — Euclid's Fifth
**11 — The Plane Truth
*D — The Problem of the Platypus
**12 — Holes in the Head
*E — The Problem of History
**13 — The Eureka Phenomenon
**14 — Pompey and Circumstance
**15 — Bill and I
*F — The Problem of Population
**16 — Stop!
**17 — ...But How?
External links
Asimovonline.com*
Essay collections by Isaac Asimov
1972 books
Scientific essays
Works originally published in The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction
Doubleday (publisher) books
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