Information about Beeswax
For the rock song by Nirvana, see Beeswax (song).
Beeswax is a natural wax produced in the bee hive of honey bees of the genus Apis. Beeswax is produced by young worker bees between 12 and 17 days old in the form of thin scales secreted by glands on the ventral surface of the abdomen. Worker bees have eight wax-producing mirror glands on the inner sides of the sternites (the ventral shield or plate of each segment of the body) on abdominal segments 4 to 7. The size of these wax glands depends on the age of the worker and after daily flights begin these glands gradually atrophy. The new wax scales are initially glass-clear and colourless (see illustration), becoming opaque after mastication by the worker bee. The wax of honeycomb is nearly white, but becomes progressively more yellow or brown by incorporation of pollen oils and propolis. The wax scales are about 3mm across and 0.1mm thick, and about 1100 are required to make a gram of wax[1]
Western honey bees use the beeswax to build honeycomb cells in which their 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). To produce their wax, bees must consume about eight times as much honey by mass. Estimates are that bees fly 150,000 miles to yield one pound of beeswax (530,000 km/kg). When beekeepers extract the honey, they cut off the wax caps from each honeycomb cell with an uncapping knife or machine. Its color varies from nearly white to brownish, but most often a shade of yellow, depending on purity and the type of flowers gathered by the bees. Wax from the brood comb of the honey bee hive tends to be darker than wax from the honeycomb. 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 molds for use in the lost-wax casting process.
The main components of beeswax are palmitate, palmitoleate, hydroxypalmitate[1] 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[2] CH3(CH2)24COOH, the two principal components, being 6:1.
Beeswax has a high melting point range, of 62 to 64 °C (144 to 147 °F). It does not boil in air, 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. Density at 15 °C is 0.958 to 0.970 g/cm³.
Bee wax can be classified generally into European and Oriental types. The ratio of saponification value is lower (3-5) for European beeswax, and higher (8-9) for Oriental types.
Hydroxyoctacosanyl hydroxystearate can be used as a beeswax substitute as a consistency regulator and emulsion stabilizer. Japan wax is another substitute.
Beeswax is used commercially to make fine candles, cosmetics and pharmaceuticals including bone wax (cosmetics and pharmaceuticals 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. Accordion makers use beeswax as an adhesive, when blended with pine rosin, to attach reed plates to the structure inside an accordion. 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 Roman Catholic Church.
It is also used as a coating for cheese, to protect the food as it ages. While some cheese-makers have replaced it with plastic, many still use beeswax in order to avoid any unpleasant flavors that may result from plastic. As a food additive, beeswax is known as E901 (glazing agent).
The burning characteristics of beeswax candles differ from those of paraffin. A beeswax candle flame has a "warmer," more yellow color than that of paraffin, and the color of the flame may vary depending on the season in which the wax was harvested.
Beeswax is also an ingredient in moustache wax, as well as dreadlock wax, and was used in the manufacturing of the cylinders used by the earliest phonographs.
Lost wax casting of metals, practised by ancient Greeks and Romans, involved coating of a wax model with investment plaster, melting the wax out of the resulting mould and filling the space with molten metal. The technique is still used today even by jewellers, goldsmiths and sculptors, and even in the industrial manufacture of complex components by casting.
The Romans sent messages on hinged pairs of wooden writing tablets coated with beeswax, the message being written into the smooth wax surface using a stylus. After it had been read the message could be erased, and a reply written and returned.
Beeswax has been used since ancient times; traces of it were found in the paintings in the Lascaux cave and in Egyptian mummies. Egyptians used it in shipbuilding as well. In the Roman period, beeswax was used as waterproofing agent for painted walls and as a medium for the Fayum mummy portraits. Nations subjugated by Rome sometimes paid tribute or taxes in beeswax. In the Middle Ages beeswax was considered valuable enough to become a form of currency.
More recently it found use as a modeling material, a component of sealing wax, and in cosmetics. Beeswax is also the traditional material from which to make didgeridoo mouthpieces and the frets on the Philippine kutiyapi, a type of boat lute.
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Beeswax cake
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Fresh wax scales (in the middle of the lower row)
Western honey bees use the beeswax to build honeycomb cells in which their 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). To produce their wax, bees must consume about eight times as much honey by mass. Estimates are that bees fly 150,000 miles to yield one pound of beeswax (530,000 km/kg). When beekeepers extract the honey, they cut off the wax caps from each honeycomb cell with an uncapping knife or machine. Its color varies from nearly white to brownish, but most often a shade of yellow, depending on purity and the type of flowers gathered by the bees. Wax from the brood comb of the honey bee hive tends to be darker than wax from the honeycomb. 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 molds for use in the lost-wax casting process.
Physical characteristics
Beeswax is a tough wax formed from a mixture of several compounds including:| Wax Content Type | Percent |
| 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% |
The main components of beeswax are palmitate, palmitoleate, hydroxypalmitate[1] 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[2] CH3(CH2)24COOH, the two principal components, being 6:1.
Beeswax has a high melting point range, of 62 to 64 °C (144 to 147 °F). It does not boil in air, 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. Density at 15 °C is 0.958 to 0.970 g/cm³.
Bee wax can be classified generally into European and Oriental types. The ratio of saponification value is lower (3-5) for European beeswax, and higher (8-9) for Oriental types.
Hydroxyoctacosanyl hydroxystearate can be used as a beeswax substitute as a consistency regulator and emulsion stabilizer. Japan wax is another substitute.
Uses as a product
)
Beeswax candles and figures
It is also used as a coating for cheese, to protect the food as it ages. While some cheese-makers have replaced it with plastic, many still use beeswax in order to avoid any unpleasant flavors that may result from plastic. As a food additive, beeswax is known as E901 (glazing agent).
The burning characteristics of beeswax candles differ from those of paraffin. A beeswax candle flame has a "warmer," more yellow color than that of paraffin, and the color of the flame may vary depending on the season in which the wax was harvested.
Beeswax is also an ingredient in moustache wax, as well as dreadlock wax, and was used in the manufacturing of the cylinders used by the earliest phonographs.
Historical use
Beeswax was ancient man's first plastic, and was used for a variety of moulding and modelling tasks.Lost wax casting of metals, practised by ancient Greeks and Romans, involved coating of a wax model with investment plaster, melting the wax out of the resulting mould and filling the space with molten metal. The technique is still used today even by jewellers, goldsmiths and sculptors, and even in the industrial manufacture of complex components by casting.
The Romans sent messages on hinged pairs of wooden writing tablets coated with beeswax, the message being written into the smooth wax surface using a stylus. After it had been read the message could be erased, and a reply written and returned.
Beeswax has been used since ancient times; traces of it were found in the paintings in the Lascaux cave and in Egyptian mummies. Egyptians used it in shipbuilding as well. In the Roman period, beeswax was used as waterproofing agent for painted walls and as a medium for the Fayum mummy portraits. Nations subjugated by Rome sometimes paid tribute or taxes in beeswax. In the Middle Ages beeswax was considered valuable enough to become a form of currency.
More recently it found use as a modeling material, a component of sealing wax, and in cosmetics. Beeswax is also the traditional material from which to make didgeridoo mouthpieces and the frets on the Philippine kutiyapi, a type of boat lute.
Trivia
- In the saying "It's none of your business!" people sometimes replace the word "business" with "beeswax."
- Beeswax is the title of a song by the popular band Nirvana.
See also
| Honey bee types and characteristics () | |||
| Queen bees | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Worker and drone bees | |||
| Worker bee | Laying worker bee | Drone | |||
| Lifecycle | |||
| Beehive | Honey bee life cycle | Brood Bee learning and communication | Swarming | |||
| Western honey bee subspecies and breeds | |||
| Buckfast bee | Carniolan honey bee | European dark bee | Italian bee Africanized bee | Apis mellifera scutellata | |||
| Cultivation | |||
| Beekeeping | Beeswax | Honey Apiary | Beehive | Langstroth hive | Top-bar hive | Apiology | |||
| Lists | |||
| Topics in beekeeping | Honey bee races | |||
| Diseases of the honey bee | |||
References
1. ^ R.H.Brown (1981) Beeswax (2nd edition) Bee Books New and Old, Burrowbridge, Somerset UK. ISBN 0 905652 150
- The chemistry of bees Joel Loveridge, School of Chemistry University of Bristol accessed Nov 2005
E numbers |
|---|
Colours (E100–199) • Preservatives (E200–299) • Antioxidants & Acidity regulators (E300–399) • Thickeners, stabilisers & emulsifiers (E400–499) • pH regulators & anti-caking agents (E500–599) • Flavour enhancers (E600–699) • Miscellaneous (E900–999) • Additional chemicals (E1100–1599) Waxes (E900–909) • Synthetic glazes (E910–919) • Improving agents (E920–929) • Packaging gases (E930–949) • Sweeteners (E950–969) • Foaming agents (E990–999) Dimethyl polysiloxane (E900) • Beeswax (E901) • Candelilla wax (E902) • Carnauba wax (E903) • Shellac (E904) • Paraffins (E905) • Mineral oil (E905a) • Vaseline (E905b) • Microcrystalline wax (E905c) • Gum benzoic (E906) • Crystalline wax (E907) • Rice bran wax (E908) |
"Beeswax" is a rock song by Nirvana, recorded at the Reciprocal Recording Studios on January 23, 1988 and first released on the compilation album Kill Rock Stars in 1991. It also featured on the Nirvana album Incesticide in 1992.
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beehive is a structure in which bees live and raise their young. A beehive is located in an apiary.
The internals of the hive comprise a densely packed matrix of hexagonal cells made of beeswax. The cells are used for storage, or for housing the brood.
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The internals of the hive comprise a densely packed matrix of hexagonal cells made of beeswax. The cells are used for storage, or for housing the brood.
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The factual accuracy of part of this article is disputed.
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The dispute is about whether the species/subspecies treatment of Engel (1999) has been accepted by the scientific community.
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A worker bee is a female honeybee which performs certain tasks in support of a bee hive. Worker bees undergo a well defined progression of capabilities. In the summer 88% of the bees in a hive are worker bees. In the winter, besides the queen, all bees are worker bees.
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gland is an organ in an animal's body that synthesizes a substance for release such as hormones, often into the bloodstream (endocrine gland) or into cavities inside the body or its outer surface (exocrine gland).
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Please discuss this issue on the talk page and read the layout guide to make sure the section will be inclusive of all essential details. This article has been tagged since September 2007.
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The sternum (pl. "sterna") is the ventral portion of a segment of an arthropod thorax or abdomen.
In insects, the sterna are usually single, large sclerites, and external.
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In insects, the sterna are usually single, large sclerites, and external.
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In sciences dealing with the anatomy of animals, precise anatomical terms of location are necessary for a variety of reasons. Non-scientists often wonder why zoological and human anatomists use complex terminology to describe locations on a body, when common terms like "up",
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Pollen is a fine to coarse powder consisting of microgametophytes (pollen grains), which produce the male gametes (sperm cells) of seed plants. The pollen grain with its hard coat protects the sperm cells during the process of their movement between the stamens
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Propolis is a resinous substance that bees collect from tree buds or other botanical sources. It is used as a sealant for unwanted open spaces in the hive. Propolis is used for small gaps (approximately mm ( in) or less), while larger spaces are usually filled with
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honeycomb is a mass of hexagonal wax cells built by honey bees in their nests to contain their larvae and stores of honey and pollen.
Beekeepers may remove the entire honeycomb to harvest honey. Honey bees consume about 8.
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Beekeepers may remove the entire honeycomb to harvest honey. Honey bees consume about 8.
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Honey is a sweet and viscous fluid produced by honey bees (and some other species of bee), and derived from the nectar of flowers. According to the United States National Honey Board and various international food regulations, "honey stipulates a pure product that does not allow
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Pollen is a fine to coarse powder consisting of microgametophytes (pollen grains), which produce the male gametes (sperm cells) of seed plants. The pollen grain with its hard coat protects the sperm cells during the process of their movement between the stamens
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beekeeper is a person who keeps honey bees for the purposes of securing commodities such as honey, beeswax, pollen; pollinating fruits and vegetables; raising queens and bees for sale to other farmers; and/or for purposes satisfying natural scientific curiosity.
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The brood comb is the beeswax structure of cells where the queen bee lays eggs. It is the part of the beehive where new brood is raised by the colony. During the summer a good queen may lay 1500-2000 eggs per day, which results in 1500-2000 bees hatching after the three week
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beehive is a structure in which bees live and raise their young. A beehive is located in an apiary.
The internals of the hive comprise a densely packed matrix of hexagonal cells made of beeswax. The cells are used for storage, or for housing the brood.
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The internals of the hive comprise a densely packed matrix of hexagonal cells made of beeswax. The cells are used for storage, or for housing the brood.
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Slumgum is a term used in beekeeping. Slumgum is the residue of the beeswax rendering process. When the beeswax from brood comb is melted it contains not only wax but also the pupal lining, pollen and other residual debris.
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candle is a light source that usually has an internal wick rising through the center of a column of solid fuel.
Prior to the mid 19th century, the candle was made from tallow (a byproduct of beef-fat rendering).
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Prior to the mid 19th century, the candle was made from tallow (a byproduct of beef-fat rendering).
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sculpture is a man-made three-dimensional object intended for special recognition as art. A person that creates sculptures is called a sculptor.
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Materials of sculpture through history
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Jewellery (also spelled jewelry, see spelling differences) is a personal ornament, such as a necklace, ring, or bracelet, made from jewels, precious metals or other substance.
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Lost-wax casting, sometimes called by the French name of cire perdue, is the process by which a bronze is cast from an artist's sculpture. An ancient practice, the process today varies from foundry to foundry, but the steps which are usually used in casting small bronze
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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.
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hydrocarbon is an organic compound consisting entirely of hydrogen and carbon. With relation to chemical terminology, aromatic hydrocarbons or arenes, alkanes, alkenes and alkyne-based compounds composed entirely of carbon or hydrogen are referred to as "Pure" hydrocarbons, whereas
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Esters are a class of chemical compounds and functional groups. Esters consist of an inorganic or organic acid in which at least one -OH (hydroxy) group is replaced by an -O-alkyl (alkoxy) group.
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Esters are a class of chemical compounds and functional groups. Esters consist of an inorganic or organic acid in which at least one -OH (hydroxy) group is replaced by an -O-alkyl (alkoxy) group.
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Esters are a class of chemical compounds and functional groups. Esters consist of an inorganic or organic acid in which at least one -OH (hydroxy) group is replaced by an -O-alkyl (alkoxy) group.
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Esters are a class of chemical compounds and functional groups. Esters consist of an inorganic or organic acid in which at least one -OH (hydroxy) group is replaced by an -O-alkyl (alkoxy) group.
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Polyester (aka Terylene) is a category of polymers which contain the ester functional group in their main chain. Although there are many forms of polyesters, the term "polyester" is most commonly used to refe'Bold text'Bold text'Bold text
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