Why do you draw bent lines for skeletal structures instead of straight lines?

Question

Thinking because you have to distinguish when a Carbon atom is there or not but why bent lines specificially?

In: 3

Answer 1

Because the carbon to carbon bonds in a (saturated) chain are at the tetrahedral angle. If you could stretch a molecule out so that the carbons lie in one plane, the bonds would form a zigzag, not a straight line.