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Topic: Help with finding chemical formula for COCONUT  (Read 30654 times)

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Offline RussianDictator

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Help with finding chemical formula for COCONUT
« on: November 07, 2007, 07:59:48 PM »
Sadly I have searched for about 2 hours and can not find a thing on the chemical formula on just coconut. It pops up with coconut oil (no true chemical formula) but no coconut. So it would be really helpful if i had some help finding the chemical formula. Thanks!

Offline agrobert

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Re: Help with finding chemical formula for COCONUT
« Reply #1 on: November 07, 2007, 08:08:22 PM »
What specifically are you looking for? Coconut oil is the essential oil of coconuts that gives it the signature smell and taste.  There are many organic compounds essential to all fruits.
In the realm of scientific observation, luck is only granted to those who are prepared. -Louis Pasteur

Offline RussianDictator

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Re: Help with finding chemical formula for COCONUT
« Reply #2 on: November 07, 2007, 08:38:55 PM »
Do you think coconut oil is close enough to coconut for its chemical/molecular formula? If so that would work fine.

Offline agrobert

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Re: Help with finding chemical formula for COCONUT
« Reply #3 on: November 07, 2007, 08:44:24 PM »
Depends what you need it for?  I would say that coconut oil is the most "coconut" organic compound that you could extract from a coconut.  If that makes sense.

Coconut oil consists of several fatty acids.  Read this

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coconut_oil

You can't really give a chemical formula that accounts for all of the organic compounds in a coconut.
In the realm of scientific observation, luck is only granted to those who are prepared. -Louis Pasteur

Offline AWK

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Re: Help with finding chemical formula for COCONUT
« Reply #4 on: November 08, 2007, 01:25:43 AM »
Quote from: RussianDictator

Sadly I have searched for about 2 hours and can not find a thing on the chemical formula on just coconut. It pops up with coconut oil (no true chemical formula) but no coconut. So it would be really helpful if i had some help finding the chemical formula. Thanks!
Coconut is not a compound. Seeking for its formula makes no sense
AWK

Offline agrobert

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Re: Help with finding chemical formula for COCONUT
« Reply #5 on: November 08, 2007, 01:31:36 AM »
Don't you think RussianDictator is trying to understand about the chemical composition of coconuts, but lacks full understanding of chemical terminology.  Correct there is no chemical formula for a coconut.
In the realm of scientific observation, luck is only granted to those who are prepared. -Louis Pasteur

Offline Borek

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Re: Help with finding chemical formula for COCONUT
« Reply #6 on: November 08, 2007, 03:05:16 AM »
RussianDictator: with very few excpetions there are no formulas of natural products. They are all complicated mixtures of many (already complex) compounds.
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Offline RussianDictator

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Re: Help with finding chemical formula for COCONUT
« Reply #7 on: November 08, 2007, 06:59:23 AM »
Depends what you need it for?  I would say that coconut oil is the most "coconut" organic compound that you could extract from a coconut.  If that makes sense.

Coconut oil consists of several fatty acids.  Read this

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coconut_oil

You can't really give a chemical formula that accounts for all of the organic compounds in a coconut.

I need it for a project i'm doing. I have to make a snow globe and i'm useing coconut like the little shavings and another chemical ( have to think of one still). My teacher told me that we also need the chemical formula for the things we use. Now if you think coconut would be to hard, please give any suggestions on anything else i could use. Or may be beter.

Offline invisiblegs

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Re: Help with finding chemical formula for COCONUT
« Reply #8 on: November 08, 2007, 11:15:17 AM »
So now we understand what you need.  If you are planning to use coconut shavings for snow, then the chemical composition will be a little more complex than a single type of molecule.  Included with the essential oils already discussed, you would need to figure out the composition of the coconut pulp.  I would suspect that it is some variant of cellulose, but that is only a guess on my part.  There are many many compounds found in natural products, so you may be better off building your snow globe out of something man made.  If I were working on this problem, I would look into finding a cheap polymer that can easily be identified, and has a density greater than that of the fluid I plan to fill the globe with.  I would also make sure that the fluid would not dissolve the "snow" before I put the whole thing together. 

Offline RussianDictator

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Re: Help with finding chemical formula for COCONUT
« Reply #9 on: November 08, 2007, 06:42:45 PM »
My teacher gave me the go head on doing coconut oil so does anyone know what the formula for coconut oil is?

Offline agrobert

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Re: Help with finding chemical formula for COCONUT
« Reply #10 on: November 08, 2007, 07:02:38 PM »
There is no chemical formula, cococnut oil consists of several long chain fatty acids.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coconut_oil

In the realm of scientific observation, luck is only granted to those who are prepared. -Louis Pasteur

Offline RussianDictator

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Re: Help with finding chemical formula for COCONUT
« Reply #11 on: November 08, 2007, 07:38:22 PM »
Whould i write C12H24O2 + CH3(CH2)12COOH + C16H32O2 + C18H34O2 + C18H32O2 + (chemical i choose)?

Offline agrobert

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Re: Help with finding chemical formula for COCONUT
« Reply #12 on: November 08, 2007, 07:52:28 PM »
Whould i write C12H24O2 + CH3(CH2)12COOH + C16H32O2 + C18H34O2 + C18H32O2 + (chemical i choose)?

Yes, this makes sense and in your situation I think your teacher will be more than satisfied.  I think you should list the common names as well as the formulas to familiarize yourself with them. 

For example

C12H24O2 lauric acid

Which can also be written as

CH3(CH2)10COOH
In the realm of scientific observation, luck is only granted to those who are prepared. -Louis Pasteur

Offline RussianDictator

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Re: Help with finding chemical formula for COCONUT
« Reply #13 on: November 08, 2007, 08:23:23 PM »
Ok well thanks for all the help :) :) :)

Offline AWK

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Re: Help with finding chemical formula for COCONUT
« Reply #14 on: November 09, 2007, 01:12:30 AM »
Whould i write C12H24O2 + CH3(CH2)12COOH + C16H32O2 + C18H34O2 + C18H32O2 + (chemical i choose)?

Yes, this makes sense and in your situation I think your teacher will be more than satisfied.  I think you should list the common names as well as the formulas to familiarize yourself with them. 

For example

C12H24O2 lauric acid

Which can also be written as

CH3(CH2)10COOH
Coconunt oil is also a mixture of fats containing mainly triglycerides of lauric acid (dodecanoic acid C12H24O2), myristic acid (tetradecanoic acid C14H28O2) and palmitic acid (hexadecanoic acid C16H32O2).
Triglzceride of lauric acid has a formula C3H5(C12H23O2)3=C39H74O6
AWK

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