Question

Fats and oils are [CPMT $1990$]
A.Acids
B.Alcohols
C.Esters
D.Hydrocarbons

Answer 1

Hint: Fats and oils are important nutrients for our health. Generally, they are formed by a condensation reaction between a molecule of glycerol and three molecules of fatty acids. Fats and oils formed in this process are called triglycerides along with three molecules of water.

Complete answer:Fats and oils are triglycerides because they are esters and contain three fatty acid units joined to glycerol. In this process, if all three $-OH$groups of glycerol are esterified with the same fatty acid, simple triglycerides are formed.


Triglycerides are called fat if it is solid at the temperature ${{25}^{o}}C$and at the same temperature if these triglycerides are liquid then it is called oil. Generally, solid triglycerides are obtained from animal sources and liquid triglycerides are obtained from animal sources. That’s why we commonly speak of vegetable oils and animal fat. Oils are generally obtained from plants like peanuts, soya beans, olives, vegetable seeds, corn, etc while fats are obtained from animal sources such as milk, beef, pork, etc.
It is not possible to write a common formula to represent naturally occurring oils and fats, as they are highly complex mixtures of triglycerides with different fatty acids.
Therefore fats and oils are esters.
Thus, option (C) is correct.

Note: Fats and oils are a source of essential fatty acids and a source of energy in terms of human health. They provide energy for a living organism, participate in the transport of fat-soluble vitamins through food and insulate our body organs. Each gram of fat has about $9\,calories$.