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Waxes are also used in shoe polishes, wood polishes, and automotive polishes, as mold release agents in mold making, as a coating for many cheeses, and to waterproof leather and fabric. Wax has been used since antiquity as a temporary, removable model in lost-wax casting of gold, silver and other materials.
The wax scales are about three millimetres (0.12 in) across and 0.1 mm (0.0039 in) thick, and about 1100 are needed to make a gram of wax. [3] Worker bees use the beeswax to build honeycomb cells. For the wax-making bees to secrete wax, the ambient temperature in the hive must be 33 to 36 °C (91 to 97 °F).
[39] This was confirmed by Sharp et al., [29] who, in a survey of 320 general practitioners, found that only 68% of doctors inspected the ear canal after syringing to check that the wax was removed. As a result, failure to remove the wax from the canal made up approximately 30% of the complications associated with the procedure.
The fatty acids in wax esters derived from plants typically range from C12-C24, and the alcohols in plant waxes tend to be very long, typically C24-C34. [2] The fatty acids and fatty alcohols of wax esters from different marine animals show major differences. Wax esters of sperm whales contain C12 fatty acids and C14 fatty acid and alcohols.
The materials used to wax produce depend to some extent on regulations in the country of production and/or export. Both natural waxes (carnauba, [12] shellac, beeswax or resin [4]) and petroleum-based waxes (usually proprietary formulae) [3] are used, and often more than one wax is combined to create the desired properties for the fruit or vegetable being treated.
Many species of the genus Primula and ferns, such as Cheilanthes, Pityrogramma and Notholaena, as well as many genera of Crassulaceae succulent plants, produce a mealy, whitish to pale-yellow glandular secretion known as farina that is not an epicuticular wax, but consists largely of crystals of a different class of polyphenolic compounds known as flavonoids. [5]
Left to right: A sample of solid raw spermaceti, a spermaceti wax candle and a bottle of sperm oil. Spermaceti / s p ər m ə ˈ s iː t i ˌ-ˈ s ɛ-/ is a waxy substance found in the head cavities of the sperm whale (and, in smaller quantities, in the oils of other whales). Spermaceti is created in the spermaceti organ inside the whale's head
A biological membrane is a form of lamellar phase lipid bilayer. The formation of lipid bilayers is an energetically preferred process when the glycerophospholipids described above are in an aqueous environment.