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Followup to my last post:
Here's a table of fat and oil melting points.
Selecting and sorting by temperature, in Celsius:
Lard 41
Palm oil 35
Cocoa butter 34
Gallium [do not eat] 30
Coconut oil 25
Peanut oil 3
Water 0
Olive oil -6
Rapeseed (canola) oil -10
Soybean -16
Sunflower -17
Linseed -24
As you can see, at the extremes there are gaps of 6-7 K. Sometimes less. But there's a 22 K gap between peanut and coconut oils. Take out coconut and gallium, and it's a 31 K gap.
As I said last time, in a way it makes sense: coconut oil was surprising because I hadn't encountered anything before that melts at practically room temperature. But still, wow. Wonder if there's a selective pressure: animals wanting fats that stay solid even under heat, plants wanting oils that stay liquid even freezing cold, no one wants a transition at 20 C. As for non-biological substances... I guess one rarely needs a household substance that would change phases at such temperatures, too.
Here's a table of fat and oil melting points.
Selecting and sorting by temperature, in Celsius:
Lard 41
Palm oil 35
Cocoa butter 34
Gallium [do not eat] 30
Coconut oil 25
Peanut oil 3
Water 0
Olive oil -6
Rapeseed (canola) oil -10
Soybean -16
Sunflower -17
Linseed -24
As you can see, at the extremes there are gaps of 6-7 K. Sometimes less. But there's a 22 K gap between peanut and coconut oils. Take out coconut and gallium, and it's a 31 K gap.
As I said last time, in a way it makes sense: coconut oil was surprising because I hadn't encountered anything before that melts at practically room temperature. But still, wow. Wonder if there's a selective pressure: animals wanting fats that stay solid even under heat, plants wanting oils that stay liquid even freezing cold, no one wants a transition at 20 C. As for non-biological substances... I guess one rarely needs a household substance that would change phases at such temperatures, too.