Why is a saturated fat called a saturated fat?

Answer 1

Saturated fat turns solid when it cools. Saturated fat consists of triglycerides containing only saturated fatty acid radicals. To give you a better idea of what this means, a fat is composed of carbon bonding to hydrogen and a few other elements(Not really necessary to know for this), in a saturated fat, every carbon contains the maximum amount of bonds it can have, four bonds. In a unsaturated fat, the carbon has a double bond to a carbon, and therefore isn't holding the maximum amount of hydrogen. Here's a picture.

H H H H H H H

| | | | | | |

C-C-C-C=C-C-C

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H H H H H H H

|= Single Bond

= is a double bond.

Answer 2

all carbons in the carbon skeleton contain the maximum number of hydrogen atoms