Question

What happened when hydrogen is added to vegetable oil?

Answer 1

Hydrogen:

• Hydrogen is a chemical element having an atomic number equal to one.
• It was discovered by Henry Cavendish.
• It is a gas with no color and odor and has the lowest density of all gases.
• It is a highly inflammable gas.

Hydrogenation:

• Hydrogenation is a chemical reaction between hydrogen (H₂) and another compound or element, usually in the presence of a catalyst such as nickel, palladium, or platinum.
• Alkenes are a class of hydrocarbons (containing only carbon and hydrogen) unsaturated compounds with at least one carbon-to-carbon double bond.
• Alkanes are a series of compounds that contain carbon and hydrogen atoms with single covalent bonds. These are known as saturated hydrocarbons.
• Alkenes will undergo an addition reaction with hydrogen gas in the presence of a catalyst to form alkanes.
• For example, the Hydrogenation of ethene involves the addition of two hydrogen atoms to form saturated ethane.
• The reaction is as ${\mathrm{CH}}_2={\mathrm{CH}}_2\stackrel{}{\stackrel{{\mathrm{H}}_2}{\to }{\mathrm{CH}}_3-{\mathrm{CH}}_3}$

Uses of Hydrogenation:

• Vegetable oil has long unsaturated carbon chains that are converted into saturated fatty acids, that is vegetable ghee.