Oils, Fats, and Waxes

Wax is also the name of several bands, an American, a British, and a Korean one.

Wax has traditionally referred to a substance that is secreted by bees (beeswax) and used by them in constructing their honeycombs.

In modern terms, wax is an imprecisely defined term generally understood to be a substance with properties similar to beeswax, namely

• plastic (malleable) at normal ambient temperatures
• a melting point above approximately 45 °C (which differentiates waxes from fats and oils)
• a relatively low viscosity when melted (unlike many plastics)
• insoluble in water
• hydrophobic

Waxes may be natural or artificial. In addition to beeswax, carnauba (a vegetable wax) and paraffin (a mineral wax) are commonly encountered waxes which occur naturally. Ear wax is a oily substance found in the human ear. Some artificial materials that exhibit similar properties are also described as wax or waxy.

Chemically, a wax may be an ester of ethylene glycol (ethan-1,2-diol) and two fatty acids, as opposed to a fat which is an ester of glycerin (propan-1,2,3-triol) and three fatty acids. It may also be an ester of a fatty acid with a fatty alcohol. It is a type of lipid.

Wax types

Animal and insect waxes

• Beeswax - produced by honeybees
• Chinese wax - produced by insects Coccus ceriferus
• Shellac wax - from lac insect Coccus lacca
• Spermaceti - from head cavities and blubber of the Sperm Whale
• Lanolin (wool wax) - from the sebaceous glands of sheep

Vegetable waxes

• Bayberry wax - from the surface of the berries of the bayberry shrub
• Candelilla wax - from Mexican shrubs Euphorbia cerifera and E. antisyphilitica
• Carnauba wax - the "queen of waxes" from leaves of Carnauba Palm
• Castor wax - catalytically hydrogenated castor oil
• Esparto wax - a byproduct of making paper from esparto grass
• Japan wax - a vegetable tallow (not a true wax), from the berries of Rhus and Toxicodendron species
• Jojoba oil - pressed from seeds of the jojoba tree, a replacement for spermaceti
• Ouricury wax - from the Brazilian Feather Palm
• Rice bran wax - obtained from rice bran

Mineral waxes

• Ceresin waxes
• Montan wax - extracted from lignite and brown coal
• Ozocerite - found in lignite beds
• Peat waxes

Petroleum waxes

• Paraffin wax - made of long-chain alkane hydrocarbons
• Microcrystalline wax - with very fine crystalline structure

Synthetic waxes

• Polyethylene waxes - based on polyethylene
• Fischer-Tropsch waxes
• Chemically modified waxes - usually esterified or saponified
• substituted amide waxes
• polymerized α-olefins

See also

• Adipocere (grave wax, mortuary wax)
• Bayberry
• Candles
• Earwax
• Hair wax
• Hot wax
• Wax museum
• SC Johnson Company
• Sealing wax
• Ski wax
• Surfwax
• Wax Digital
• Wax play
• Waxing for hair removal
• Wood finishing

External links

• Wax frosting (Kontraband.com)
• Waxes
• About waxes