A deep understanding of chemistry is essential to anyone interested in modern biological sciences or medicine, so I really encourage you to take the time to work though all of the chemistry material. That may look like a lot of work, but you've probably watched many of the videos already under 'Chemistry of life'. If you are not familiar with reduction and oxidation states, then I encourage you to start working through the Chemistry material on KhanAcademy:

How many moles of carbon are present in a gram of glucose (a 'typical' carbohydrate)?ĭo the answers to those two sets of questions help you answer your question? Lipids are a family of organic compounds that are mostly insoluble in water, meaning they do not mix well with water. How many moles of carbon are present in a gram of tetradecane - a 14 carbon alkane (a reasonable comparison for the tails of the fatty acids found in food)? How would you expect this to affect a oxidative process like cellular respiration? How does this compare with the oxidation state of the carbon in carbohydrates (the other group of macromolecules that are often used to store energy)?

What is the oxidation state of the carbons in the fatty acid tail? Therefore, I'm going to ask you some questions in response to help you figure out (some of) the answers yourself. This is a good question, but one that I think you have enough information to answer on your own.

Download free structure of lipids