what is a saturated hydrocarbon

A saturated hydrocarbon is an organic compound consisting solely of carbon and hydrogen atoms, with each carbon atom bonded to as many hydrogen atoms as possible. This means that saturated hydrocarbons contain only single bonds and the maximum number of hydrogen atoms bonded to each carbon atom. The term "saturated" in this context refers to the fact that each carbon atom is bonded to four other atoms (hydrogen or carbon), with no double or triple bonds in the molecules/10%3A_Organic_Chemistry/10.04%3A_Alkanes%3A_Saturated_Hydrocarbons). Alkanes and cycloalkanes are examples of saturated hydrocarbons. These compounds are the simplest class of hydrocarbons and are characterized by their single bonds and the maximum number of hydrogen atoms for each carbon atom.