what is the chemical difference between fats and oils?

Answer 1

Fats as normally regarded as lipids with higher melting points that oils.

This difference is due to the higher amount of insaturated bondings (double bonding) that oils have along the carbonated chain. Fats on the contrary are saturated lipids. The presence of double bondings makes the lipids less unstable to increase of temperature, hence the oils melt at lower temperatures than fats.

Answer 2

I don't know how advanced you are in biology/chemistry but a simple answer is that fats are more saturated than oils. Fats and oils are both made up of fatty acid or hydrocarbon chains; carbon atoms bonded to each other and hydrogen atoms to form a chain like:

CH3CH2CH2CH2CH2CH2COOH (with a double bond between the last carbon and the first oxygen - a carboxyl group)

Fats have more single bonds allowing more Hydrogen atoms to bond to more Carbon atoms. This is part of what allows them to remain solid at room temperature. Oils are usually less saturated kind of like this:

H2C=C=C=C=CHCOOH

meaning that there are more Carbon-Carbon double bonds and less Hydrogen atoms bonded to the carbons. This is part of why oils are more liquid at room temperature. Hope this helps a little : )

Answer 3

There isn't a difference. There is a difference between triglycerides and cholesterol... There is a big differnece between Saturated and Unsaturated fats. Saturated fats are solid at room temp. Unsaturated fats are liquid. Trans fats are man-made. Hydrogen is added to an unsaturated fat to make it act like a saturated fat. This is helpful for the food industry because solid fats are easier to work with and saturated fats don't go rancid as quickly as unsaturated fats. Unsaturated fats are heathier.

Answer 4

PLEASE DONT GET CONFUSED BY CHOLESTEROL,INSATURATED.... AND STUFF LIKE THAT ,here is the simple way to understand
fats and oils both are made up or fatty acids and glycerol with a ester link.
But fats are solids at room temperature and oils are liquids at room temp,this is mainly because of the type of fatty acid present in particular fat or oil.

fatty acids are of two types

1.saturated fatty acids which have no double bonds in them(meaning the carbon atoms are saturated with hydrogen atoms,hope u know the valency of carbon is 4, so all the 4 will be attached by hydrogen atoms to fulfil the valency)Mostly fats are rich in saturated fatty acids and are therefore solids at room temp.(most of the animal fats)
Eg.Butter,
hydrogenated fat(here the unsaturated(liquid )oils are converted into saturated(solid) fats by passing hydrogen gas at high temp and pressure so the unsaturated double bonds become saturated single bonds.

2.Unsaturated fatty acids:they 've double bonds in them, meaning they have less hydrogen atoms therfore to fulfill the valency carbon forms double bonds.
If there is single double bond then it is called as mono unsaturated fatty acid.
if two or more double bonds it is called poly unsaturated fatty acid.Most of the plant oils and fish oils contain these type of fatty acids therfore they exist in liqud form at room temp.

Answer 5

the difference is really just in the length of the carbon chain "tail" that forms the backbone of their structure. Oils have a shorter carbon "tail" and remain liquid at room temperature; fats have longer "tails" and are solid at room temperature.