Question

Fats are _____ at room temperature, whereas oils are _____ under the same conditions.

A)Solid, Liquid
B)Liquid, Solid
C)Both Solid
D)Both Liquid

Answer 1

Fats are solid, and oils are liquid at room temperature because of their chemical structures. Saturated fats, with single bonds, are solid; unsaturated fats with double bonds are liquid. This distinction corresponds with animal-derived fats (solid) and plant-derived oils (liquid).

Step-by-step explanation:

Fats are typically solid at room temperature, while oils are liquid under the same conditions. Therefore, the correct answer to the fill-in-the-blank question is A) Solid, Liquid. This difference is largely due to the chemical structure of the fatty acids that make up fats and oils. Saturated triglycerides, typically found in animal fats, contain single bonds and tend to be solid at room temperature. Conversely, unsaturated triglycerides, commonly found in vegetable oils, contain at least one double bond and are usually liquid at room temperature. Fats like butter are solid and exemplified in Figure 6.3.1, whereas olive oil is an example of a liquid oil. Saturated and trans unsaturated fatty acids are typically solids at room temperature due to their straight-chain structure that allows them to pack together densely, while cis unsaturated fatty acids have a bent structure preventing close packing, making them liquids.