Wax

Wax

Waxes are a class of chemical compounds that are plastic (malleable) near ambient temperatures. Characteristically, they melt above 45 °C (113 °F) to give a low viscosity liquid. Waxes are insoluble in water but soluble in organic, nonpolar solvents. All waxes are organic compounds, both synthetic and naturally occurring.

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Famous quotes containing the word wax:

    We too had many pretty toys when young;
    A law indifferent to blame or praise,
    To bribe or threat; habits that made old wrong
    Melt down, as it were wax in the sun’s rays;
    Public opinion ripening for so long
    We thought it would outlive all future days.
    William Butler Yeats (1865–1939)

    We have progressively improved into a less spiritual species of tenderness—but the seal is not yet fixed though the wax is preparing for the impression.
    George Gordon Noel Byron (1788–1824)

    Fowls in the frith,
    Fishes in the flood,
    And I must wax wod:
    Much sorrow I walk with
    For best of bone and blood.
    —Unknown. Fowls in the Frith. . .

    Oxford Book of Short Poems, The. P. J. Kavanagh and James Michie, eds. Oxford University Press.