a lower energy than the boat. In order to go from the chair conformation to a twist-boat conformation or the other chair conformation, bond angles have to be changed, leading to a high-energy half-chair conformation. So the relative stabilities are: . All relative conformational energies are shown below. At room temperature the molecule can easily move among these conformations, but only chair and twist-boat can be isolated in pure form, because the others are not at local energy minima. The boat and twist-boat conformations, as said, lie along a continuum of zero angle strain. If there are substituents that allow the different carbon atoms to be distinguished, then this continuum is like a circle with six boat conformations and six twist-boat conformations between them, three "right-handed" and three "left-handed". (Which should be called right-handed is unimportant.) But if the carbon atoms are indistinguishable, as in cyclohexane itself, then moving along the continuum takes the molecule from the boat form to a "right-handed" twist-boat, and then back to the same boat form (with a permutation of the carbon atoms), then to a "left-handed" twist-boat, and then back again to the achiral boat. The passage boat⊣twist-boat⊣boat⊣twist-boat⊣boat constitutes a pseudorotation. Coplanar carbons Another way to compare the stability within two molecules of cyclohexane in the same conformation is to evaluate the number of coplanar carbons in each molecule. Coplanar carbons are carbons that are all on the same plane. Increasing the number of coplanar carbons increases the number of eclipsing substituents trying to form a 120°, which is unattainable due to the overlapping hydrogens. This overlap increases the overall torsional strain and decreases the stability of the conformation. Cyclohexane diminishes the torsional strain from eclipsing substituents through adopting a conformation with a lower number of nonplanar carbons. For example, if a half-chair conformation contains four coplanar carbons and another half-chair conformation contains five coplanar carbons, the conformation with four coplanar carbons will be more stable. Principal conformers The different conformations are called "conformers", a blend of the words "conformation" and "isomer". Chair conformation The chair conformation is the most stable conformer. At , 99.99% of all molecules in a cyclohexane solution adopt this conformation. The symmetry is D3d. All carbon centers are equivalent. Six hydrogen centers are poised in axial positions, roughly parallel with the C3 axis, and six hydrogen atoms are parallel with the equator of the molecule. Each carbon bears one