Physical Properties of oils and Fats

(a) Fats are solids, while oils are liquids.

(b) They both are soluble in ether, chloroform and benzene although insoluble in water.

(c) They both have less specific gravity as compared to water and consequently float on the surface while mixed with it.

(d) Pure fats and oils are odourless, colourless, and tasteless but natural fats and oils possess a characteristic odour because of the existence of other substances.

(e) They have fixed melting points, fixed gravity and refractive index therefore they can be identified by these oil constants.

(f) Animal fats consist of cholesterol, an unsaturated alcohol, while vegetable fats contain phytosterol.