What is the difference between the lipids?
The two types of triglycerides are fats and oils. The main difference between lipids and fats is that lipids are a broad group of biomolecules whereas fats are a type of lipids. Fat is stored in the adipose tissue and under the skin of animals. It is mainly used as an energy-storage molecule in the body.
What makes a lipid different from other macromolecules?
Lipids. Unlike the other macromolecules, lipids are not soluble in water, and they don’t form long sequences made up of similar or repeating smaller units. The fats you consume are molecules called triglycerides, consisting of three fatty acids attached to a glycerol.
How are lipids different from nucleic acids and proteins?
In terms of chemical composition, lipids differ from nucleic acids and proteins because they mostly just contain carbon, hydrogen, and oxygen (except for phospholipids which of course contain phosphorous ). In addition to those elements, proteins contain nitrogen and sulfur, and nucleic acids contain nitrogen and phosphorous.
Which is the best description of a lipid?
Lipids are a class of macromolecules that are nonpolar and hydrophobic in nature. Major types include fats and oils, waxes, phospholipids, and steroids. Fats are a stored form of energy and are also known as triacylglycerols or triglycerides. Fats are made up of fatty acids and either glycerol or sphingosine.
How are steroids different from all other lipids?
Unlike phospholipids and fats, steroids have a fused ring structure. Although they do not resemble the other lipids, they are grouped with them because they are also hydrophobic and insoluble in water. All steroids have four linked carbon rings, and many of them, like cholesterol, have a short tail.
How is a triglyceride different from a phospholipid?
The triglyceride is made of a glycerol molecule connected to three fatty acids. If one of these fatty acids is substituted by a phosphate group, then the whole molecule becomes a phospholipid. The following links are for a phospholipid image and a triglyceride one respectively.