Crossword clues for complementarity
Douglas Harper's Etymology Dictionary
1908, a term in physics, from complementary + -ity.
Wiktionary
n. The state or characteristic of being complementary
WordNet
n. a relation between two opposite states or principles that together exhaust the possibilities
the interrelation of reciprocity whereby one thing supplements or depends on the other; "the complementarity of the sexes"
Wikipedia
Complementarity may refer to:
In physics, complementarity is both a theoretical and an experimental result of quantum mechanics, also referred to as principle of complementarity, closely associated with the Copenhagen interpretation. It holds that objects have complementary properties which cannot be observed or measured at all at the same time.
The complementarity principle was formulated by Niels Bohr, a leading founder of quantum mechanics. Examples of complementary properties that Bohr considered:
- Position and momentum
- Energy and duration
- Spin on different axis
- Wave and particle
- Value of a field and its change (at a certain position)
- Entanglement and coherence Cramer, J. G. et al. "An Inquiry into the Possibility of Nonlocal Quantum Communication". Foundation of Phys. Submitted. Revised Feb., 2015 1
Bohr’s complementary principle should not be confused with observables that do not commute, like position and momentum. This is an entirely different subject.
In molecular biology, complementarity describes a relationship between two structures each following the lock-and-key principle. In nature complementarity is the base principle of DNA replication and transcription as it is a property shared between two DNA or RNA sequences, such that when they are aligned antiparallel to each other, the nucleotide bases at each position in the sequences will be complementary, much like looking in the mirror and seeing the reverse of things. This complementary base pairing allows cells to copy information from one generation to another and even find and repair damage to the information stored in the sequences. The degree of complementarity between two nucleic acid strands may vary, from complete complementarity (each nucleotide is across from its opposite) to no complementarity (each nucleotide is not across from its opposite) and determines the stability of the sequences to be together. Furthermore, various DNA repair functions as well as regulatory functions are based on base pair complementarity. In biotechnology, the principle of base pair complementarity allows the generation of DNA hybrids between RNA and DNA, and opens the door to modern tools such as cDNA libraries. While most complementarity is seen between two separate strings of DNA or RNA, it is also possible for a sequence to have internal complementarity resulting in the sequence binding to itself in a folded configuration.
Usage examples of "complementarity".
Each sex could then, because of its fears, try to protect itself from the other, denying the obvious complementarities of nature, the fitting together of diverse dispositions and modalities.
How many wistful teens have yearned to find that one special other with all the right complementarities to blend in perfect union?
It seemed a deeply sensuous complementarity that shook me to the core.
I experienced then, degraded and abused though I was, with a flood of elation, primitive organic, animal, primate complementarity, the complementarity of man and woman, the complementarity beyond mythology and rhetoric, the complementarity of he who takes and she who is taken, of he who has, and owns, and of she whom he has, whom he owns, and makes his.
In the course of the savage discipline inflicted upon me, late in its measures, I had, it both thrilling and horrifying me, sensed the ancient primate complementarity of male and female, that in the ancient biological sovereignties of nature, on this world reasserted, I, a female, was simply subordinate to the male.
First, as girls, natural slaves, they were in a relationship to which, in effect, they were bred by nature, that of the submitting organism in an ancient biological complementarity of male and female.