Fats & Membranes

Walls that build themselves

An interactive lesson with 5 steps, about 5 minutes: you predict, drag and solve, with instant feedback on every answer. It runs in your browser and needs JavaScript.

What you’ll learn

• Phospholipids self-assemble into bilayers: oily tails in, heads out.
• Bilayers block ions and polar molecules; proteins let them through.
• Fat stores ~2× the energy per gram of carbohydrate.

Steps

1. Two-faced molecules
2. A wall that builds itself
3. What gets through?
4. Dense fuel
5. Cold-water fish