Lesson 7 · about 15 minutes

Mirror-image molecules

Why one carvone smells of spearmint and its mirror image smells of caraway.

You will learn

  • What makes a molecule left- or right-handed
  • How to spot a carbon with four different groups
  • Why mirror-image molecules can smell and act differently

Sections

  1. Left hands and right hands
  2. A carbon with four different groups
  3. Spearmint and caraway
  4. Hands in fruit and medicine
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