The shape of each triglyceride molecule will depend on the specific kinds of fatty acids found in the triglyceride. The shapes of the fatty acids are in turn related to the fact that fatty acids are formed from elements of carbon (C), hydrogen (H) and oxygen (O). Carbon is one of the few elements that will form chains or rings of atoms joined by chemical bonds, in which one, two or three pairs of electrons may be shared. If one pair of electrons is shared, the bond is called a single bond and is shown as C-C. Double bond C=C and triple bond with three.

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A bond which more than one pair of electrons is shared, is called an unsaturated bond, e.g. double carbon bonds, and since the unsaturated bonds are up for grabs, another element could come and "steal one of those electrons. This makes unsaturated bonds relatively reactive and chemically unstable. If a fatty acid molecule has several unsaturated bonds, it is called polyunsaturated and is generally very reactive chemically.

 

A carbon bond that shares only one pair of electrons is called a saturated bond (C-C), and generally in the case of fatty acids, the other electrons of the carbons are shared by hydrogen atoms when they are not shared by another carbon.