Question

At room temperature, the eclipsed and staggered form of ethane cannot be isolated because:

• A. they interconvert rapidly
• B. the energy difference between the conformation is large
• C. both the conformations are equally stable
• D. there is large barrier of rotation about the sigma bond

Answer 1

The correct option is A they interconvert rapidly

Due to low energy barrier of just 12.55 kJmol^-1 , they are interconvertible rapidly