Wax Wax United States Department of Health and Human Services Category="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 sticky 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 oil - 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

External links

Wax frosting (Kontraband.com)
Waxes
About waxes