Beeswax
From Freepedia
Beeswax is a product from a bee hive. Beeswax is secreted by honeybees in the form of thin scales. The scales are produced by glands on the ventral surface of the abdomen. Worker bees have eight wax-producing glands on the inner sides of the sternites of 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 (12 days old) to secrete wax the ambient temperature in the hive has to be 33 to 36°C (91 - 97°F). Approximately eight pounds of honey is consumed by bees to produce one pound of beeswax. Estimates are that bees fly 150,000 miles to yield this one pound of beeswax. 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.
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Physical Characteristics
It is a tough wax formed from a mixture of several compounds including: hydrocarbons 14%, monoesters 35%, diesters 14%, triesters 3%, hydroxy monoesters 4%, Hydroxy polyesters 8%, acid esters 1%, acid polyesters 2%, free acids 12%, free alcohols 1%, unidentified 6% Cited source: [1].
The main components of beeswax are palmitate, palmitoleate, hydroxypalmitate and oleate esters of long-chain (30-32 carbons) aliphatic alcohols, with the ratio of triacontanylpalmitate CH3(CH2)29O-CO-(CH2)14CH3 to cerotic acid CH3(CH2)24COOH, the two principal components, being 6:1.
Beeswax has a high melting point range, of 62 - 64°C (144 - 147°F). It does not boil, but continues to heat until it bursts into flame at around 120°C (250°F). If beeswax is heated above 85 °C (185°F) discoloration occurs. Relative density at 15 °C is 0.958 - 0.970 g/cm3.
Uses as a Product
Beeswax is used commercially to make fine candles, cosmetics and pharmacy (these two account for 60% of total consumption), in polishing materials (particularly shoe polish), as a component of modelling waxes, and in a variety of other products. It is commonly used during the assembly of pool tables to fill the screw holes and the seams between the slates. Beeswax candles are preferred in most Eastern Orthodox churches because they burn cleanly, with little or no wax dripping down the sides and little visible smoke. Beeswax is also prescribed as the material (or at least a significant part of the material) for the Paschal candle ("Easter Candle") and is recommended for other candles used in the liturgy of the Catholic Church.
The burning characteristics are different than paraffin. Beeswax: has negative ionization which binds particulate matter to clear the air, the wax color varies naturally by season and the flame is a warmer, yellow color that also varies by season.
The world production of beeswax is about 7000 tons per year.
Historical use
Beeswax is used since ancient history; traces of it were found in the paintings in the Lascaux cave and in Egyptian mummies. Ancient Egyptians used it in shipbuilding as well. In the Roman period, beeswax was used as waterproofing agent for painted walls and as medium for the Fayum mummy portraits. In the Middle Ages beeswax was considered valuable enough to become a form of currency. More recently it found use eg. as a modeling material, a component of sealing wax, and in cosmetics.
