Click image for a video examining the relationship of the pencil with its mirror image. Let's also examine the relationship of a human hand and a snail shell with their mirror images. Click image for a video examining the relationship of the hand with its mirror image. Click image for a video examining the relationship of the snail shell with its mirror image. Chiral Molecules Molecules behave the same way.
Lets look at a tetrahedral carbon atom with three different groups bonded to it.
Click image for a video examining the relationship of the molecular model with its mirror image. If we rotate the mirror image we find it superimposes with the original structure. The object and its mirror image are identical and the structure is achiral. Next look at a tetrahedral carbon atom with four different groups bonded to it. Click image for a video examining the relationship of the molecular model with its mirror image.