Explaining Saturation and Unsaturation
What is Saturation? What is Unsaturation? Even those scientifically uninclined use the words. Saturation, unsaturation, and polyunsaturation are dietary terms closely associated with health. Most know they are also chemical terms. But they don't understand what they mean. This is a shame, since "saturation" can be easily understood by any bright student. Saturated Hydrocarbon Linkage Living matter (plant or animal) is made of of organic compounds. These include (but are not limited to) fats, carbohydrates, and proteins. All these substances contain a kind of backbone or chain, of atoms of carbon (C) bonded to atoms of hydrogen (H). Each carbon is capable of bonding with four hydrogens. [sc name="MidArticleAdsense"] For purposes of illustration, we'll assume we have before us a chain of four carbon atoms, with every available bond possibility…