An alternative more compressed way of representing the various conformations of butane is to use a Newman projection. A Newman projection views the conformer from the perspective of looking down the carbon-carbon bond which is the horizontal line in the sawhorse.
The graphics below show the sawhorse view and the corresponding Newman projection view for butane.
For butane this is the bond between carbons 2 and 3 (CH3CH2CH2CH3).
The graphics below show the sawhorse view and the corresponding Newman projection view for butane.
Note that the groups are slightly offset in the Newman projection for the eclipsed view so that it is possible to show both the groups bonded to both the carbon at the front and the carbon at the back.
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| nearly eclipsed (used to represent eclipsed) |
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| staggered |