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My professor said that a coffee cup with a handle and no print is achiral. Can you please try to explain this to me? I keep thinking about the example you used with your hand and that one was chiral.

asked by @michaelt50 • about 1 year ago • Organic Chemistry • 5 pts


Hey there! It's achiral since there is a plane of symmetry! You can see this easily when you look at the top view of the coffee cup just as shown below. Maybe your professor made this as an example to make you realize that molecules are 3-D and there are multiple ways to look at it and look for the plane of symmetry. I hope this helps!