What is chirality?
Sometimes two molecules can exist as non-superimposable mirror-images. That is to say, the mirror image of a molecule cannot be exactly placed on top of the original molecule.
A good example of this is your hands: they are mirror images of one another, but cannot be exactly placed on top of each other.
Pairs of molecules that exhibit this property are known as enantiomers. When a carbon atom is bonded to four distinct groups, this is known as a chiral centre, and two enantiomers of this arrangement are seen.
PB
Related Chemistry A Level answers
All answers ▸How does the anticancer agent cisplatin work?
Figure 1 shows a maxwell-Boltzmann distribution of molecular energies of a sample of gas at a fixed temperature. (a) Label the y axis. (b) On Figure 1, sketch a maxwell-Boltzmann distribution for the same sample of gas at a lower temperature.
Why does ice float on water?
Given is a following reaction at equilibrium: N2(g) + 3H2(g) ⇄ 2NH3(g), ΔH < 0. What will be the effect of changing the following conditions on the system? 1. Increasing pressure. 2. Decreasing temperature. 3. Adding a catalyst. 4. Adding HCl(g).