Bar 3 axis Bar 3 axis
View perpendicular to axis View down axis

Bar Three Axis in C2H6

Point to the ethane molecule using your mouse and click on it as before for the rotation axes demonstrations in benzene. Each time that you do so the operation of threefold-inversion symmetry will be applied to the molecule and you will see that the hydrogen atom coloured in red rotates anticlockwise by 120° and then inverts its position through the centre of the molecule. (Note that the concept of clockwise depends on the position of the viewer, which is assumed to be the same as shown in the previous illustration.)


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© Copyright 1995-2006.  Birkbeck College, University of London. Author(s): Jeremy Karl Cockcroft