What is the main characteristic of optical isomers?
Practice Questions
1 question
Q1
What is the main characteristic of optical isomers?
Different boiling points
Different melting points
Different optical activities
Different molecular weights
Optical isomers differ in their ability to rotate plane-polarized light.
Questions & Step-by-step Solutions
1 item
Q
Q: What is the main characteristic of optical isomers?
Solution: Optical isomers differ in their ability to rotate plane-polarized light.
Steps: 5
Step 1: Understand what optical isomers are. They are a type of isomer that have the same molecular formula but differ in the arrangement of atoms.
Step 2: Learn about plane-polarized light. This is light that vibrates in only one direction.
Step 3: Know that optical isomers can rotate plane-polarized light. This means they can change the direction in which the light vibrates.
Step 4: Recognize that one optical isomer will rotate the light in one direction (clockwise), while its counterpart will rotate it in the opposite direction (counterclockwise).
Step 5: Conclude that the main characteristic of optical isomers is their ability to rotate plane-polarized light differently.
