What is one key difference between saturated and unsaturated fats?

Saturated fats are characterized by their chemical structure, which is fully saturated with hydrogen atoms, meaning there are no double bonds between carbon atoms. This structural composition leads to saturated fats being solid at room temperature. Common examples include butter and lard. The solid state is a result of the close packing of the fat molecules, which occurs because there are no kinks in the fatty acid chains, allowing them to stack neatly together.

In contrast, unsaturated fats contain one or more double bonds in their fatty acid chains, which introduces kinks that prevent the molecules from packing closely together. This makes unsaturated fats liquid at room temperature, such as olive oil or canola oil. Understanding this fundamental difference is important in nutrition and food science, as it has implications for health and food storage.