What are characteristics of carbohydrates and examples?

Answer 1

Carbohydrates are organic molecules (contains carbon) that play an important part in organisms and cellular processes. They often contain significant amounts of chemical potential energy. Their most prominent role is in energy storage. Organisms create carbohydrates using photosynthesis and then "burn" them for energy using cellular respiration.

Individual carbohydrate molecules (called monomers) can bind together forming polymers of many individual carbohydrate molecules attached together. An example of a carbohydrate monomer is glucose with the chemical formula of C6H12O6. Common polymers of carbohydrates include cellulose (plant cell wall), chitin (fungus cell wall), and petidoglycan (bacterial cell wall). A carbohydrate generally has one carbon and oxygen atom for every two hydrogen atoms. An example of a carbohydrate monomer is glucose with the chemical formula of C6H12O6.

Carbohydrates contain fewer calories per gram than fats or lipids because unlike fats, carbohydrates contain oxygen. Oxygen decreases the chemical potential in carbohydrates because being the 2nd most electronegative element, its forms very stable bonds with carbon and hydrogen (e.g. C02 is very stable) while the more more unstable, more numerous carbon carbon and carbon hydrogen bonds in fat give fat more chemical energy per gram.

Answer 2

Carbohydrates are organic molecules made up of carbon, hydrogen, and oxygen. They are a major source of energy for the body and can be classified as simple sugars (monosaccharides and disaccharides) or complex carbohydrates (polysaccharides). Examples of carbohydrates include glucose (monosaccharide), sucrose (disaccharide), and starch (polysaccharide).