DICT.TW Dictionary Taiwan

 Par·af·fin Par·af·fine, n.  Chem. A white waxy substance, resembling spermaceti, tasteless and odorless, and obtained from coal tar, wood tar, petroleum, etc., by distillation.  It is used in candles, as a sealing agent (such as in canning of preserves), as a waterproofing agent, as an illuminant and as a lubricant.  It is very inert, not being acted upon by most of the strong chemical reagents.  It was formerly regarded as a definite compound, but is now known to be a complex mixture of several higher hydrocarbons of the methane or marsh-gas series; hence, by extension, any substance, whether solid, liquid, or gaseous, of the same chemical series; thus gasoline, coal gas and kerosene consist largely of paraffins.
 Note: ☞ In the present chemical usage this word is spelled paraffin, but in commerce it is commonly spelled paraffine.
 Native paraffin. See Ozocerite.
 Paraffin series. See Methane series, under Methane.
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