Lipids and Carbohydrates

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Lipids and Carbohydrates

Lipids are a group of substances, which include fats, oils and waxes.

Carbohydrates include sugars, starches, glycogen and cellulose. They

are stored in plants as starches and in animals as glycogen.

There are many differences between carbohydrates and lipids. For

example lipids are insoluble in water whereas carbohydrates are

soluble in water. This is because lipids contain non - polar

hydrocarbon units whereas water contains polar hydrocarbon units. So

when the two are mixed together there is no attraction between

particles so no breakdown is possible. But lipids care soluble in non

- polar solvents, e.g. alcohol. Carbohydrates have polar hydroxyl

groups, so there are able to break down in water.

The structure of each is also different. Carbohydrates form long

chained polymers and lipids form shorter chains of polymers. Also they

belong to different groups; lipids belong to the Ester group and

carbohydrates belong to the Keto and Alcehyde groups. In carbohydrates

the ratio of Hydrogen to...

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