Questions tagged [fats]
Fats are triesters of glycerol and fatty acids. They are generally soluble in organic solvents.
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why is alpha-linolenic acid "alpha"?
I'm learning about how fatty acid names are formed. In the process, I noticed a molecule called alpha-linolenic acid. There's a similar molecule called linoleic acid. Both have 18 carbons, but alpha-...
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Cheap way to mix satured fat (beef tallow) with water?
I want to mix beef tallow (satured fat) in water. I want to prepare food or edible product.
I know I must use a emulsifier, but I seen in this video, I can do it by a vacuum chamber.
That means I have ...
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Can fats be composed of fatty acid esters other than triglycerides?
Fats are mainly referred to triglycerides. In triglycerides, a glycerol molecule form three ester linkages with fatty acids.
I think it is also possible for a butane-1,2,3,4-tetraol molecule to form ...
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Can glycerol in substituted natural fats be a monomer according to European REACH Regulation? [closed]
European REACH regulation for registration of chemical substances has an own definition of a polymer according to this regulation.
I've noticed the following problem.
I want to discuss here only the ...
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How exactly does oil drying work (specifically with the case of linoleum)?
I understand that it’s a form of autoxidation, and so with the presence of oxygen, the oxygen reacts with a double bond of the unsaturated fat to create a hydro peroxide, however I don’t really ...
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Biochemically speaking, why aren't the cell membranes of eukaryotic, multicellular organisms made of more heat-resistant stuff?
TL;DR: there are lipids out there that are more heat-resistant than those in current cell membranes, yet current cell membranes don't have them. Why?
I've cobbled together various miscellaneous ...
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Do fats in edible oils and ghee undergo oxidation or rancidation when cooked in pressure cooker along with rice?
In a lot of dishes, it's quite common to cook rice along with fats like edible oil or ghee(clarified butter), in a pressure cooker.
Now the pressure cooker can reach very high temperatures, to quickly ...
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Where do the chloride ions go during saponification precipitation?
During saponification hydroxide ions from the lye join to the triglyceride to form glycerol, and the sodium bonds with the fatty acids making the soap molecules. However, it is sometimes the case that ...
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Why there is not a consistent pattern between the carbon chain length and the melting point of fatty acids? [duplicate]
I looked at the melting temperature of different saturated fatty acids and I expected to see that with a longer chain of carbon the melting point would be higher as after all the var der Waals ...
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Saponification - Oil and Alcohol?
I've been reading that a saponification reaction typically involves NaOH or KOH. I was wondering - could anything that contains an OH group cause a saponification reaction? For instance, coconut oil + ...
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Does glycerin dissolve in fat?
İ couldn't find much info on internet about solubility of glycerol in triglycerides. I suppose it is non soluble because glycerin is polar but fats aren't. But fats have glycerin side in them too, so ...
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Why baking soda neutralize the flavor of coconut oil?
I discovered recently that adding baking soda to a recipe can neutralize the strong flavours of the coconut oil. Does anyone know how it is working and what is, in a simple way, the chemical reaction ...
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How much lipoic acid is contained within octanoic acid? [closed]
As I understand it, lipoic acid is synthesized from octanoic acid:
Lipoic acid is synthesized de novo in mitochondria from octanoic acid, an 8-carbon fatty acid (C8:0), bound to the acyl-carrier ...
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Problem encountered during high school unsaturated fats experiment
To get straight to the point, my chemistry experiment was looking at the amount of unsaturated fats in avocado oil with respect to temperature. I did this by testing for the $\ce{C=O}$ bonds using ...
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Does double ended fatty acid exist? [duplicate]
A fatty acid consists of a carbon chain, with a carboxylic acid on one end, and just a hydrogen on the other.
Does a substance with two carboxylic acid ends and no hydrogen end exist?
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Is omega 3 a specific fatty acid?
Is eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA) omega 3 or that's just a acid that comes with a omega 3? Same question for docosahexaenoic acid (DHA).
Just want to know are both of those two acid omega 3 despite ...
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Are all fatty acids monocarboxylic acids?
The answer to this question might solve a multiple choice in my previous chemistry exam, which caused an argument with my teacher.
We know that fatty acids form fats and oil due to their carboxylic ...
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Would burning of around 200 kg of animal fat in a tunnel cause an explosion? [closed]
As shown in the movie Ironclad, they burnt a group of fat pigs together, under a tunnel, beneath the fort base and it resulted in a massive explosion.
From chemistry's perspective, and considering ...
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Why does coconut oil spoil much faster than groundnut oil?
I have observed that various foods cooked using coconut oil spoil much faster than foods cooked using groundnut oil. One good example is Asian coconut milk curry. Even with proper refrigeration, this ...
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Double bonds in polyunsaturated fatty acids
$\omega - 3$ fatty acids are very frequently discussed. $\omega - 6$ is also mentioned. However, I don't recall mention of $\omega - 1$, $\omega - 2$, or $\omega - 4$. Also, in polyunsaturated ...
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Gelatination of solution in saponification
When I performed a saponification experiment in school, I added some ethanol to the solution (glycerol ester fatty acid + sodium hydroxide) to change the equilibrium of the reaction. (Molecules of ...
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Uncertainty in measuring the mass of the palm oil and the base in saponification
I am a student coming from the domain of mathematics, and I am working on error analysis and uncertainty, but I have a question in the domain of chemistry.
I am studying the effect of the ...
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How can I lower the flash point of stearic acid (Palm Based Fatty Acids) [closed]
I am trying to build a environmentally neutral firelighter that does not use petroleum based accelerant. I have found that the flash point is way to high to be viable in Stearic Acid (Hexadecanoic ...
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fatty acid vs polyethylene [closed]
Both fatty acid and polyethylene are made (mostly) of carbons with hydrogens with a very similar configuration, yet, their properties are very different. What am I missing?
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Saponification value of a fat/oil
The saponification value of a fat was determined by adding $\pu{9.0 g}$ of the fat to flask containing $\pu{50.0 cm3}$ of $\pu{1.00 M}$ ethanolic potassium hydroxide. The remaining solution was ...
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Transformation of fats in presence of alcohol
I have always observed when cooking that if I have some amount of fat like oil or butter in a hot frying pan and I pour some alcohol like wine on it, then there is a reaction and the quantity of ...
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What makes trans fats more harmful than saturated ones?
Why are by many trans fats considered to be worse for you than fully saturated fats?
I am asking specifically which of their structural features accounts for this condemnation. They won't form clumps ...
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Why is there a difference in available energy in saturated vs. unsaturated fatty acids?
On Wikipedia it states:
In cellular metabolism, unsaturated fat molecules contain somewhat less energy (i.e., fewer calories) than an equivalent amount of saturated fat.
Can someone explain why ...
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Are there super(calorie-)dense foods?
It’s commonly reported that there are 9 kilocalories per gram of fat, 7 per gram of alcohol, and 4 per gram of carbohydrates or protein. But these figures (with the exception of that for alcohol, ...
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How does fat affect the precipitation of proteins?
I am doing an experiment using milk, heavy cream, and vinegar. We are trying to precipitate proteins from milk and heavy cream.
When I did the experiment with milk, it was very quick reaction and ...
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Which is better: iodine number or bromine number?
The degree of unsaturation of fats can be determined with the help of two type of scale namely iodine number and bromine number.
Generally, iodine number is more preferred over bromine number (Is ...
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What exactly happens when vegetable oil is partially hydrogenated?
My current assumption is that partial hydrogenation requires a polyunsaturated fat, because partial implies at least one but not all, which means there must be at least two double bonds in the fat, ...
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Why are trans fats worse than saturated fats?
Saturated fat molecules have no double-bonded carbons, so they are long and straight, which means they stack easier and tend to form solids at room temperature, and solids are better at forming ...
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What causes straight fatty molecules to form a lattice (e.g. saturated fats)?
What causes multiple chains of saturated fats to pack together and form a solid? It is said that because the chains are straight, they form a lattice and line up more easily.
But if I had a bunch of ...
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Trying to understand the causes and implications of kinks in fatty acid chains
I watched this video (The Deal with Fat by SciShow):
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mvvx2yQRbzQ
To summarize the main points I want to discuss:
Saturated fats are chains without any double-bonds ...
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Why are fats glossy?
I am talking about the standard fats we see in everyday use (triglycerides). It seems that no matter what the composition, saturated or unsaturated, all fats are glossy when liquid. I don't know if ...
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Does solid fat float in liquid fat?
Ice floats in its liquid state, water, because it is less dense, and I know fat also floats in water BUT will a piece of fat dropped into a pot of melted fat also float? or will it sink and what is it ...
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Solubility of cholesterol and phospholipids in acetone
I'm having difficulty with this specific part of an assignment. I know that it is to do with polarities of the different parts of cholesterol and that it is because cholesterol is amphiphilic, but I ...
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Why is peanut butter viscous?
Why is it that when you chop peanuts, a highly viscous paste is created?
Im assuming that the reason that chopped peanuts dont become just dust is because we cannot chop finely enough, but what ...
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Is it possible to make a fuel cell that runs on triglyceride?
I apologize if this is a silly question. The reason I ask is I'm wondering if it would be possible to build a fuel cell that runs on body fat. I know ones for butane exist, could they work for this? ...
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Energy in molecules
A textbook states:
Fats also provide an efficient way to store energy over long time
periods, since they contain over twice as much energy per gram as
carbohydrates
What's the chemistry ...
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What is the density of carbohydrates/protein/fat? [closed]
As in weight per volume? I mean.. you always see them specified by weight but they have to have a volume, right?
I suppose different fat(for example) molecules would have different densities but then ...
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Why does olive oil make 90 degree grids on a nonstick pan?
Whenever I add olive oil to my cold nonstick pan and try to swirl it, it ends up making these 90-degree grids. Is this something to do with the oil, the pan, or the interaction between the two? I find ...
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Why is Omega-3 a polyunsaturated and not a monounsaturated fatty acid?
If Omega-3 is a fatty acid with a single double bond at the third carbon atom from the omega end, then why is it regarded as a polyunsaturate and not a monounsaturate? Are there different Omega-3s ...
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When disqualifying trans fat, are we qualifying cis-fat as healthy?
I have a question about fats. This may sound cliché! Because we are in the era of "trans-fat" free, "unsaturated" food. Not to mention it's the period where people get sicker and die faster (oh may be,...
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How to dissolve candle wax (paraffin)?
Wikipedia states that waxes can be dissolved by non-polar organic solvents.
I failed to dissolve candle wax in both acetone and ethanol, which are the only organic solvents I have at home.
I have ...
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Can I use Sunflower oil to make soap?
When reading about making glycerine soap, the recipes suggested to melt animal fat and mix it with $\ce{NaOH}$.
Could I use Sunflower oil instead? Or a olive oil for nice flavor? Is heating necessary ...
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Is FA 18:2 undifferentiated the same as linoleic acid?
On wiki, linoleic acid has the code number FA 18:2 cis,cis-9,12. But then what exactly is FA 18:2 undifferentiated?
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Why unsaturated fats are usually cis?
I've been studying organic chemistry and I think trans fats are actually more stable than cis fats. This is because the steric hindrance (for trans) would be lower and the molecule energy would be ...
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What happens when C17H35COO-, a soap, reacts with an acidic solution?
My book says that-
In acidic water, the negative fatty acid ions become fatty acids.
However, they did not include a chemical equation to demonstrate this, so I made my own:
$$\ce{C17H35COO- (aq)...
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