Alkenes and alkynes are unsaturated. This means???

um.. I honesly don't know what this means!

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unsaturated_compound

Since this is not my area of expertise, I searched Google under "unsaturated alkenes to get this source:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alkene

Click the hypertext for "unsaturated."

I hope this helps. Thanks for asking.

I didn't read either of the references cited by others who responded but alkenes contain double bonds between carbon atoms and alkynes contain triple bonds between carbon atoms. Alkanes, on the other hand, are saturated and they contain single bonds to each carbon atom.

Alkenes and alkynes are organic compounds that are considered unsaturated. This means that they have carbon-carbon double bonds (in the case of alkenes) or carbon-carbon triple bonds (in the case of alkynes).

To understand what unsaturated means, it helps to understand the concept of saturation in organic chemistry. Saturation refers to the maximum number of hydrogen atoms that can be attached to a carbon atom. In a saturated compound, all carbon atoms are bonded to the maximum number of hydrogen atoms possible. This is commonly seen in alkanes, which are hydrocarbons with single bonds between carbon atoms.

On the other hand, unsaturated compounds have fewer hydrogen atoms attached to the carbon atoms because of the presence of double or triple bonds. These carbon-carbon double or triple bonds limit the number of hydrogen atoms that can be attached to the carbon atoms. Consequently, these compounds are said to be unsaturated.

In summary, when we say that alkenes and alkynes are unsaturated, we mean that they contain double or triple bonds, respectively, between their carbon atoms, resulting in fewer hydrogen atoms being attached to the carbon atoms compared to saturated compounds.