Fats That Are Solid At Room Temperature

Imagine a building made of solid bricks.

Fats that are solid at room temperature.

A few plant oils including coconut oil and palm oil are high in saturated fats and for nutritional purposes are considered solid fats. This can refer to any type regardless of whether. Why are animal fats solid yet vegetable oils liquid at room temperature. To form a solid molecules need to pack together nicely while in a liquid there is less order and the molecules flow around each other.

These terms can refer to any type of fat but fats usually describes those that are solid at room temperature. Fats triglycerides that contain palmitic acid and stearic acid are therefore known as saturated fats. In contrast to solid fats oils are fats that are liquid at room temperature like the vegetable oils used in cooking. You can also see that oleic acid is not saturated.

This building of bricks is similar to the tightly packed bonds that make saturated fat. Two of the carbons are connected by a double bond and two of the hydrogens are missing. Fat molecules are mostly made up of long straight hydrocarbon chains. Fats made up of saturated fatty acids are solid at room temperature.

The bonds are often solid at room temperature like butter or the fat inside or around meat. Saturated fats are most often found in animal products such as beef pork and chicken. Why are fats solid at room temperature but oils liquid. This competition is now closed.