High-oleic oil: What’s all the fuss?

Students will learn about the nature of covalent bonding, the fundamental bonding type of all biological structures and how to name molecules and acids.

View the set of four video lessons on VSEPR that are presented in the context of how high-oleic soybean oil is a chemical modification that “adds value” to the oil by improving its properties. To understand why, the student learns about how to predict molecular shapes using VSEPR and how those shapes affect the properties of substances such as soybean oil. In this lesson, students will apply VSPER theory, to predict the shapes of molecules. They will evaluate their prediction by constructing 3D models of the molecules and consider how structure affects the polarity of the molecule and connect that polarity to its chemical and physical properties.

View the eLearning course on high oleic oils and answer the pre/post questions, then complete the note sheet. Investigate three studies published online on oleic oils, evaluate the validity of the source and study, and summarize the findings, using the format given. Design and conduct an experiment to test the validity of the claims and write a lab report following the format. (Another mini lesson on hydrogenation may be found here.)