Hey @Parker , if you’re referring to the recent suggestions from moscatime, the reason I discussed more than changing “parallel” to “perpendicular” is because we’ve received a few suggestions saying the opposite because they misinterpreted “axis” as being synonymous with “plane.” So, while having it marked as “perpendicular” to the axis is correct, it caused confusion. As of now though, the card is factually incorrect like you said & I believe this card was changed from perpendicular to parallel in reference to the axis.
Ultimately, to both be correct & avoid confusion, “axis” could be changed to “plane” for the notes on axial & equatorial bonds. Feel free to let me know if you have any thoughts to share before applying this change
I too was confused when I first saw the card. I was thinking in reference to the plane of the ring. I like having the bond angles referenced to the axis of the ring. As seen from the confusion, people typically look at bond angles in reference to the plane of the ring, I think it is most often taught that way, but broadening how one can look at a frame of reference could be beneficial. Not only could the MCAT ask about a cyclic compound in reference to it’s axis, in which having practice looking at a ring in reference to it’s axis would be beneficial, but also learning to see things from a different perspective, reading and analyzing what is specifically being asked by the prompt is a very useful skill to have in test taking!
Adding a picture to the extra’s section showing the axis of a ring would help in clarifying what the prompt is asking for.
That’s a good point, the MCAT could ask for parallel/perpendicular in respect to its axis and I think we should tackle that with this card since it’s a point of confusion. @AhmedAfifi I don’t want to overwhelm you with too many illustrations. Would you be able to create an illustration of a ring like the one seen below & labels for the “equator” and “axis” of the ring?
