Question

How does saturated fat melt and reform?

Answer 1

Say I cook a bunch of bacon, the fat becomes oil. I eat the bacon and stick the pan in the fridge. The next morning, the fat is all solid again. How does this work? Does it have something to do with the hydrogen atoms bonded to the carbon skeleton and the removal of them?

Answer 2

@Directrix

Answer 3

saturated fats are solid at room temperature, this is because of their molecular structure. they're solid because they have been hydrogenated which increases their melting points. they melt when the temperatures get high enough to break the hydrogen bonds in their structure. the fat from the bacon solidifies because the fat has been rendered and putting it in the fridge just lowers the temperature which freezes it. but im not sure if it is whether to do with the hydrogen bonds forming again though because the process of hydrogenation happens at 60 degree in the presence of a platinum catalyst :)