To build a cyclohexane model you need 6 sp3 hybridized carbon atoms the black atoms with four prongs 18 bonds these are your gray tubes 12 hydrogen atoms the white atoms start by connecting the sp3 hybridized carbon atoms in a ring this ring will have a three-dimensional structure and will not be able to lay flat on the table we will be building the chair confirmation of cyclohexane there are other confirmations such as the boat confirmation but the chair confirmation is the most stable because it induces the least strain on the bonds it is named a chair confirmation because it looks like a lounge chair with a back and footrest after creating a ring of carbon atoms attached two more bonds to each carbon attach a hydrogen atom on the other end of each bond your structure should stand on three legs with another three legs pointing straight up in the air these are your axial positions the bonds that alternate pointing slightly up and down around the circle are known as the equatorial positions you can use different colors for axial and equatorial hydrogens to make it easier to visualize now we are going to perform what is called a ring flip to interconvert the chair model this is very simple and can be accomplished in a couple of ways first way set your model on the table so the equatorial axis is parallel to the table the model should be stating on three legs to perform the flip take the positions in between the current legs and push down on the equatorial positions second way take two carbon atoms directly opposite each other raise one of these atoms above the equatorial plane lower the other atom below the equatorial plane let's repeat this flip with another set of opposing carbon atoms raise one above the equatorial plane lower the opposite one below the equatorial plane when a ring is flipped the axial substituents will become equatorial in the equatorial substituents will become axial this is useful when trying to find the most stable confirmation of a cyclohexane ring that has substituents on it let's try an example find the most stable confirmation of trans one-turbutel three methyl cyclohexane we'll start with our basic cyclohexane ring and add a tert-butyl substituent on carbon one for this model to be trans the substituents need to be pointing in opposite directions since we placed the tert-butyl in an axial position pointing up we need to place the methyl on carbon three so that it is equatorial pointing down now that we have the model let's find the most stable confirmation this means that the steric strain is minimized where that all of the atoms are the furthest away from their neighbors as possible currently the tert-butyl group is pretty close to the other axial atoms so let's try and do a ring flip and see what happens now the big bokeh tert-butyl group is in the equatorial position further away from the other atoms this looks more stable than the other confirmation in fact it will always be the case that the cyclohexane will be the most stable when its bulkier substituents are in the equatorial positions