Basic Differences Between Fat and Oil

Fat:Fats consist of a wide group of compounds that are

generally soluble in organic solvents and

generally insoluble in water. Chemically,fats are generallytriesters of glycerol andfatty acids. Fats may be either solid or liquid at room temperature, depending on their structure and composition.

Oil:An oil is

any substance that is liquid at ambient temperatures and is hydrophobic but soluble in

organic solvents. Oils have a high carbon and hydrogen content and are nonpolar substances. Generally they mixture of fatty acids and glycerides is termed as oil.

Chemical difference:
The main chemical difference which ties in with this is the higher level of unsaturation in oils oil molecules contain many more C=C double bonds. This can be shown by shaking oils with bromine water the brown color disappears quite readily. If fats, dissolved in a suitable saturated solvent, are tested with bromine water the brown color remains. The shape of both oil and fat molecules is roughly that of a tuning fork. The absence of a double bond allows the molecules to be more regularly tuning fork shaped and consequently the molecules can fit into one another. If a double bond is present then the molecules zigzag ; chains become distorted and cannot fit into one another. Molecules which can pack closely together due to their regular structure have stronger Van der Waals forces between the molecules and thus higher melting points. So fats have higher melting points than oils Fat contains more saturated fatty acids such as Palmitic acid CH3(CH2)14COOH,Stearic acid CH3(CH2)16COOH etc which are components of glyceride mixture, while oil contains more unsaturated fatty acids such as Oleic acid CH3(CH2)7CH=CH(CH2)7COOH , Linoleic acid CH3 (CH2)3(CH2CH=CH2)2(CH2)7COOH etc . It is possible to harden oils into fats simply by reacting the double bonds with hydrogen. This is an addition reaction and changes unsaturated compounds into saturated ones. This is similar to the catalytic addition of hydrogen across the double bond in an alkene. Margarines are made by partial hydrogenation of oils using a nickel catalyst. The degree of hydrogenation, along with different forms of refinement and blending can produce margarines with different properties. For example-soybean oil (Ni/H2 at 200 c temp) Fat .

Physical Difference:
Fat is solid at room temperature or 20 c while oil is liquid . Fat is mainly found from animal body, such as, cows contain fat named Tallow and pigs contain fat named Lard. Lard fat contains 32% palmitic acid, 18% stearic acid, 45% Oleic acid and 5%Linoleic acid while oil is mainly found in vegetable sources such as Olive oil, Palm oil etc. Palm oil contains 84% Oleic acid, 4% Linoleic acid, 9% Palmitic acid and 3% Stearic acid. Oil contains less cholesterol than fat so that oil can be digested easily than fat. Melting point of fat is above 20 c whereas melting point of oil is always under 20 c. (Sources:
Wikipidia, Higher secondary Chemistry 2
nd

part by Dr.S.K.S Hazari & H Nag, Higer secondary Chemistry 2

nd

part by

Pr.Mohiruddin, Laila Mustarin, Dr. Tanvir Muslim and http://www.hsn.uk.net/files/HSN12200.pdf )