Nature composition of candles

Candle is a daily lighting tool, mainly made of paraffin. In ancient times, it was usually made of animal fat. Can burn and emit light. In addition, the use of candles is also very wide: in birthday banquets, religious festivals, collective mourning, ceremonies and ceremonies and other important uses. In literary and artistic works, candles have the symbolic meaning of sacrifice and dedication.

In modern times, it is generally believed that candles originated from torches in primitive times. Primitives spread fat or wax on tree bark or wood chips and bundled them together to make torches for lighting. There is also a legend that in the ancient times of the pre-Qin period, someone tied mugwort and reed into a bunch, then dipped it in some grease and lighted it for lighting purposes. Later, someone wrapped a hollow reed with a cloth and put it in beeswax to light it.

The main raw material of candles is paraffin wax (C₂₅H₅₂), which is prepared from waxy fractions of petroleum by cold pressing or solvent dewaxing. It is a mixture of several higher alkanes, mainly n-docosane (C22H46) and n-bis Octadecane (C28H58) contains about 85% carbon and 14% hydrogen. The added auxiliary materials include white oil, stearic acid, polyethylene, flavors, etc. Among them, stearic acid (C17H35COOH) is mainly used to increase the softness, and the specific addition depends on the type of candle produced.

It is easy to melt, and its density is less than that of water and hardly soluble in water. It melts into liquid when heated, is colorless and transparent, and is slightly volatile when heated, and the peculiar smell of paraffin can be smelled. When cold, it solidifies into a white solid with a slight special smell.