this post was submitted on 23 Jun 2024
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And here's me, mixing up hydrocarbons and carbohydrates.
one is food for animals, the other is food for cars
Yes, but which is which? Nothing in the name tells me whether it has oxygen in its chemical composition.
Well, you might've heard foods with carbohydrates are sometimes referred to by the abbreviation “carbs". If you know carbs are food, it's obvious the word starting in "carb-" is the edible one.
If you weren't familiar with that abbreviation, here's another memory helper: Spaghetti carbonara contains carbs.
If you're also not familiar with spaghetti carbonara, I'm very sorry for you.
But spaghetti also needs water so wouldn't that make it a hydrocarbonara?
Aye, I stand defeated.
Or a carbonarahydrate?
Don't cars have carborators? Are carborators edible?
I don't know anything about cars except they go vroom. I know even less about chemistry.
I have never heard of anyone eating a carburetor and dying, so we have to assume it's safe to eat
Carbohydrates are the ones with (H20)n
To hydrate means to add water. Hence a hydrate has OH2 added.
Oooohhhh, nice!
More generally, -ate itself means 'with oxygen'.
Carbonate = carbon + oxygen
Nitrate = nitrogen + oxygen
Phosphate = phosphorus + oxygen
There is apparently some nuance but it is a good rule to remember: https://chemistry.stackexchange.com/questions/32962/when-to-use-ate-and-ite-for-naming-oxyanions