Kim Owens, age 9, of Barrington Hills, I11., for her question:

WHAT IS WAX?

Wax is any of various semisolid, large molecule, hydrocarbon substances produced by plants, bees or other animals, or by chemical means. Waxes usually occur as insect secretions and as coatings on the leaves or fruits of certain plants.

Wax is a substance derived from animal, vegetable and mineral matter. There are five different classes of waxes. that we use in commerce:

1  Wax secreted by insects, such as beeswax that is obtained from the honeycomb of the common bee, and Chinese wax, secreted by an insect called the Coccus cerifera.

2  Vegetable waxes, including carnauba wax from the leaves of a species of palm grown in Brazil, and Japan wax, obtained from the seeds of the Rhus succedaneum.

3  An intermediate class of waxes represented by montan, obtained from semimineralized vegetable material.

4  Mineral waxes, related to the petroleums and the paraffins, as represented by ozokerite and its refined product, ceresin.

5  Waxes of animal origin, such as spermaceti.

Waxes are lighter than water, melt on heating to a limpid liquid and are combustible. They resemble fats in their physical characteristics, but are harder and more lustrous. Waxes are insoluble in water and cold alcohol, but are soluble in boiling alcohol, from which they often crystallize.

You'll find wax used in the making of candles, phonograph records, ointments, polish for cars and furniture, waxed paper and medicinal plasters. Wax is also used in the finishing of textile fabrics, as an insulator and as a protective coating on painted and varnished surfaces.

Carnauba wax, the hardest of all waxes, is one of the most widely used members of the family. It is used in the varnish industry, in furniture and shoe polish and in coating carbon paper.

Another very valuable wax comes from the bee. When a worker bee is only two days old, she goes to work. With many others her age, forming a curtain of bees, the workers hang from the top of the hive where it is warm. Wax comes from glands between the segments of the underside of her abdomen. As it dries into flakes, she scrapes it up with her hind legs and passes it to her mouth. Then she chews the dry wax until it is soft and pliable.