Question

You are a compound in the laboratory. You find that it is made up of carbon, hydrogen, and oxygen in a ratio of two hydrogen atoms for each carbon atom. How will you classify the compound?

Answer 1

It's a carbohydrate! Well funnily the way the question is phrased: you are a carbohydrate, since you are the compound

Explanation:

The question states the compound is made up of only carbon, oxygen and hydrogen, therefore it narrows it down to Lipids or carbohydrates as a macromolecule choice.
Carbohydrates have a ratio of 2 hydrogen atoms for each oxygen and carbon atom.
Lipids do not have a set ratio like carbohydrates do.

Answer 2

You got me. Without more info, you could be talking about any of these four... and they even have exceptions that are due to degrees of unsaturation...

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SOME carbohydrates, SATURATED esters, SATURATED carboxylic acids, or SATURATED ketone... but there are always exceptions!

`"Carbohydrate": "C"_n"H"_(2n)"O"` general formula, does NOT always hold!

`"Saturated Ester": "H"_3"C"("CH"_2)_n"COO"("CH"_2)_n"CH"_3` general formula, does NOT always hold!

`"Saturated Carboxylic acid": "H"_3"C"("CH"_2)_n"COOH"` general formula

`"Saturated Ketone": "H"_3"C"("CH"_2)_n"CO"("CH"_2)_n"CH"_3` general formula

Any of these have a `"C":"H"` ratio of `1:2`. I've listed some examples below.

CARBOHYDRATE EXAMPLES

• glucose - matches description (`"C"_6"H"_12"O"_6`)
• `color(red)"sucrose"` - does NOT match description (`"C"_12"H"_22"O"_11`)

ESTER EXAMPLES

• ethyl acetate (`"C"_4"H"_8"O"_2`)
• methyl acetate (`"C"_3"H"_6"O"_2`)
• `color(red)"methyl acrylate"` - does NOT match description (`"C"_4"H"_6"O"_2`)

CARBOXYLIC ACID EXAMPLES

• acetic acid (`"C"_2"H"_4"O"_2`)
• formic acid (`"CH"_2"O"_2`)
• `color(red)"maleic acid"` - does NOT match description (`"C"_4"H"_4"O"_4`)

KETONE EXAMPLES

• ethyl methyl ketone (`"C"_4"H"_8"O"`)
• `color(red)"methyl vinyl ketone"` - does NOT match description (`"C"_4"H"_6"O"`)