-5

What's the meaning of the triangle and striped line in this structure of $\ce{H3O+}$:

enter image description here

Can someone suggest me a site to learn about this?

(I'm quite a novice in chemistry.)

Thanks

Buttonwood
  • 29,590
  • 2
  • 45
  • 108
Shub
  • 408
  • 5
  • 17
  • 2
    The part of this answer already fully adresses your question, and this comment provides references. Alternatively, look up wedge and dash notation in any organic chemistry textbook or in the internet. – andselisk Aug 13 '20 at 05:29
  • 1
    @andselisk IMO, this question is a duplicate of that. – Nilay Ghosh Aug 13 '20 at 05:47
  • @NilayGhosh That was also my initial thought, but I refrained from single-handedly closing this one as a duplicate since in What are the meanings of dotted and wavy lines in structural formulas? OP explicitly mentions that they are already aware of the wedge and dash notation. Let the community decide. – andselisk Aug 13 '20 at 05:56
  • 1
    Does this answer your question? What are the meanings of dotted and wavy lines in structural formulas? – Mithoron Aug 17 '20 at 00:00
  • @Mithoron Oh yes – Shub Aug 17 '20 at 03:32
  • @Shub For future reference: Often, it is good to substantiate questions and answers on ChemSE with an image - and you rightfully did so here, too. However, it is better if you insert these them directly in your question. A link toward a reference external to ChemSE may break (e.g. for change of the address of a site, merger / closure of a business, etc.) and may represent an unnecessary obstacle to grasp the content of your question fully. – Buttonwood Aug 17 '20 at 06:46
  • @Buttonwood I tried to do so but failed (both in the case of uploading from the URL and from the device). I think I lack the required reputation for that. – Shub Aug 17 '20 at 06:50
  • @Shub I'm sorry but I forgot if the inclusion of a picture requires a minimal reputation, or not. In the present case, I accessed the reference site given by you, basically took a screen photo which then was cropped and scaled to a lesser dimension in an editor (https://www.pinta-project.com/) and then uploaded the resulting .png. – Buttonwood Aug 17 '20 at 07:51
  • I would suggest you Dr. Wayne Breslyn's YouTube channel. The image you got from this video's thumbnail by Dr. Wayne Breslyn https://youtu.be/Jm0kFK5IiGo –  Sep 17 '21 at 21:05

1 Answers1

1

It is the way how to display the 3D structure of molecules on the 2D plane.

Imagine that

  • Atomic bonds represented by a normal line are placed on the plane of a paper/screen.
  • Atomic bonds represented by triangles point toward you from the plane.
  • Atomic bonds represented by stripes point behind the plane.

It is frequently used in organic chemistry, where the particular 3D structure matters, especially for optically active molecules (Their mirror image is not the identical molecule).

See the andselisk comment above.

Poutnik
  • 41,273
  • 3
  • 49
  • 106