[FlamboyantEgg]

"Are the two carbon atoms of C2H6 equivalent? Briefly explain your answer."

I'm unsure what the term "equivalent" is defined as in this context.

Is it asking whether both are CH3's attached to each other with a single bond and therefore 'the same/equivalent' to one another?

[sjb]

If you replaced each carbon in turn with a different atom, for instance silicon, would the compounds be the same?

[FlamboyantEgg]

Yeah, ended up being in the prac I did today.

Explained more as that from a H's perspective, in a methyl group, each H is 'surrounded' by three other H's and a C and are therefore equivilent.

Probably a bad explaination but it worked in the prac with the balls to stick-and-ball's to push together.