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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.
Beeswax is a
product from a bee hive. Beeswax is secreted by honeybees of a certain
age in the form of thin scales. The scales are produced by glands
of 12 to 17 days old worker bees on the ventral (stomach) surface
of the abdomen. Worker bees have eight wax-producing glands on the
inner sides of the sternites (the ventral shield or plate of each
segment of the body). Wax is produced from abdominal segments 4
to 7. The size of these wax glands depends on the age of the worker.
Honeybees use
the beeswax to build honey comb cells in which
the young are raised and honey and pollen are stored. For the wax-making
bees to secrete wax the ambient temperature in the hive has to be
33 to 36 °C (91 to 97 °F). Approximately eight pounds of
honey is consumed by bees to produce one pound of beeswax (8 kg/kg).
Estimates are that bees fly 150,000 miles to yield this one pound
of beeswax (530,000 km/kg). When beekeepers go to extract the honey,
they cut off the wax caps from each honeycomb cell. Its color varies
from yellowish-white to brownish depending on purity and the type
of flowers gathered by the bees. Wax from the brood comb of the
honeybee hive tends to be darker than wax from the honey comb. Impurities
accumulate more quickly in the brood comb. Due to the impurities,
the wax has to be rendered before further use. The leftovers are
called slumgum.
The wax
may further be clarified by heating in water and may then
be used for candles or as a lubricant for drawers and windows or
as a wood polish. As with petroleum waxes it may be softened by
dilution with vegetable oil to make it more workable at room temperature,
whence it may be used to create sculpture and jewelry models for
use in the lost wax casting process.
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