Talk:Wax

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In the article, I read

a wax is an ester of glycerol (ethane 1,2-diol) and two fatty acids, as opposed to a fat which is an ester of glycerin (propane 1,2,3-triol) and three fatty acids.

This seems to be incorrect. 'glycerol' is a redirect to 'glycerin', and I believe I remember the two words to be synonyms. The term for ethane 1,2-diol is Glycol (or Ethylene glycol). Now, either:

  1. a wax is an ester of glycol and two fatty acids...
  2. a wax and a fat are both esters of glycerol/glycerin and three fatty acids.
  3. a wax and a fat are both esters of glycerol/glycerin, but wax has two fatty acids, and fat has three fatty acids.

The difference is not in glycerol/glycerin, but in number of fatty acids. 212.200.199.110 17:35, 4 August 2005 (UTC)

I don't know which one is true. --Johan Lont

In the mean time, I found the following text on [1]
All waxes are water-resistant materials made up of various substances including hydrocarbons (n-alkanes), ketones, diketones, primary and secondary alcohols, aldehydes, alkanoic acids, terpenes (squalene) and monoesters, all with long or very long carbon chains (from 12 up to about 38 carbon atoms) and solid in a large range of temperature (fusion point between 60 and 100°C). More commonly, waxes are esters of an alcohol other than glycerol (long chain alcohol, sterol, hydroxycarotenoids, vitamin A) and a long chain acid (wax esters).
Apparently, the first option was true - I'll change the article

Contents

[edit] Conflicting Information?

Paraffin wax is given as an example of "a mineral wax" in the opening statements but is later classified as a Petroleum Wax... following the Paraffin link could not resolve this issue as the Paraffin article gives no indication of the source of the substance, only a general chemical makeup and usage list. So, which is it, petrol or mineral?

The two statement aren't contradictory. Petroleum is generally considered a mineral product.--Pharos 19:28, 14 November 2005 (UTC)

[edit] This article tells me what a wax is

But gives me no idea what is it used for. Anyone able to tell me? Pcb21 Pete 16:53, 18 April 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Few minor details

When discussing waxes, paraffin is a petroleum based wax, not a mineral based. Mineral based waxes applies moreso to the wax industry based out of Germany and Poland where actual minerals are mined from the ground and chemically altered to produce wax-like properties. Also, a wax isn't a single molecule, as is suggested by the earlier statements about it being an ester. All waxes used today are mixtures, not a single chemical. For example, most paraffin waxes are comprised mainly of normal alkanes ranging from C18 - C36, and microcrystalline waxes are comprised mainly of saturated branched and cyclic hydrocarbons with much higher numbers of carbon atoms.

I don't entirely agree. Paraffin waxes are commonly known as "mineral waxes", in the same way that products such as brightstock and solvent pale oils (produced via the same refining processes) are known as "mineral oils". Not sure what you mean by "minerals are mined from the ground and chemically altered to produce wax like properties", unless you are referring to Fischer-Tropsch waxes, which are produced from coal gas, but these are actual waxes, not simply materials with "wax like properties".

I'm also not sure about the statement "all waxes used today are mixtures, not a single chemical". They may not be a single chemical compound, because even among fully refined paraffin waxes you will always get a spread of molecular weights, but this has always been the case, it doesn't simply refer to the situation "today". It is also possible to achieve waxy type materials that are single species chemical compond, e.g. ethylene bis-stearamide, or stearic acid. SimonUK 10:24, 3 March 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Merger with Hard wax

I have suggested this merger due to the lack of information available about wax with a certain property. I will perform the merger 12 days from now, on april 27th. If anyone has any objections, please let me know on my talk page. Thank you, Ard0 (Talk - Contribs) 16:45, 15 April 2007 (UTC)

Merge complete (which basically consisted of turning the Hard wax article into a redirect) Ciotog 00:54, 8 September 2007 (UTC)