what does it mean to say that the ratio of oxygen to carbon in fat is smaller than that in carbohydrate? i know that the formula for glucose is c6h12o6. so when they say that the ratio of oxygen to carbon in fat is smaller, what exactly is it like?
So the oxygen to carbon ratio in glucose is 6/6 which is 1. so for fat it must be smaller than 1? so something like C60H12O2 would have a oxygen to carbon ratio of 2/60 which is much smaller than that of carbohydrate? Is this what they mean?
Thanks.
Since Jiskha does not have a regular biology tutor, you might try this site.
http://biology-forums.com/index.php
If there is a tutor who can help you with these particular questions, I'm sure he/she will respond.
Yes, you are on the right track. When we talk about the ratio of oxygen to carbon in a molecule, we are comparing the number of oxygen atoms to the number of carbon atoms.
In the case of glucose (C6H12O6), as you correctly pointed out, there are 6 carbon atoms and 6 oxygen atoms. So the ratio of oxygen to carbon is 6/6, which simplifies to 1. This means that for every carbon atom in glucose, there is exactly one oxygen atom.
Now, when we compare this to fat, we find that the oxygen to carbon ratio is smaller. Let's take a hypothetical example you mentioned, C60H12O2. In this case, there are 60 carbon atoms and only 2 oxygen atoms.
So the ratio of oxygen to carbon in this fat molecule would be 2/60. When simplified, this ratio is much smaller than 1. And that's what it means when we say the ratio of oxygen to carbon in fat is smaller than that in carbohydrates.
It's important to note that this is a general comparison, and the actual ratios can vary widely depending on the specific molecule. But the basic idea is that fats tend to have a smaller ratio of oxygen to carbon compared to carbohydrates.