text: The identity of the inverting atom has a dominating influence on the barrier. Inversion of ammonia is rapid at room temperature, inverting 30 billion times per second. Three factors contribute to the rapidity of the inversion: a low energy barrier (24.2 kJ/mol; 5.8 kcal/mol), a narrow barrier width (distance between geometries), and the low mass of hydrogen atoms, which combine to give a further 80-fold rate enhancement due to quantum tunnelling. In contrast, phosphine (PH) inverts very slowly at room temperature (energy barrier: 132 kJ/mol). Consequently, amines of the type RR′R"N usually are not optically stable (enantiomers racemize rapidly at room temperature), but P-chiral phosphines are. Appropriately substituted sulfonium salts, sulfoxides, arsines, etc. are also optically stable near room temperature. Steric effects can also influence the barrier.