Is sugar a carbohydrate? Why?

1 Answer
Dave
Mar 8, 2018

A sugar like glucose has the general formula #CxxH_2O#

Explanation:

This doesn't mean you have a pile of carbon and you pour water on it, and boom, you have hydrated carbon...or a carbohydrate.

A carbohydrate is a polyalcohol that usually either has an aldehyde or ketone functional group. Glucose is a polyalcohol with an aldehyde group (C6H12O6), but its formula is #6(CxxH_2O)#, so we call them carbohydrates.

Also, if you cook bread too hot (but not hot enough it catches on fire), you'll burn the bread....basically by driving off the water leaving behind carbon.

Related questions
See all questions in Carbohydrates
Impact of this question
2464 views around the world
You can reuse this answer
Creative Commons License