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From: Andrew Usher on 20 Dec 2008 03:32
It came to me one day when observing paraffin wax freeze, that the wax
could not be a perfect crystal since it is not a pure substance.
Rather, it consists of countless isomers; yet, it seems to be
crystalline from its opacity and apparent sharp melting and freezing.
Natural fats and waxes must be the same as paraffin in this regard, as
their physical properties are exactly analogous.

I drew, therefore, an immediate parallel with crystalline plastics,
which seem very similar (though having a much higher tensile
strength). Am I correct in doing so? I have never read anything about
the solid structure of fats and waxes but I do not think I can be
wrong here.

So we have a group of materials that can not form perfect crystals (or
segregate into solids that do), which are all organic, but there can
be made inorganic polymers that surely behave the same way. They are,
of course, thermodynamically unstable, as all organics are.

So can I set down a general rule, that the thermodynamically most
stable state of any aggregation of elements, will form one or more
crystalline phases, which form the whole bulk, at sufficiently low
temperatures?

Andrew Usher
From: RLW on 20 Dec 2008 18:39
On Sat, 20 Dec 2008 10:38:49 -0800, Uncle Al wrote:
> No, stupid. Glycerol triesters. . . .

Gee Al, the IUC is not going to penalize you if you just call them
"triglycerides", like everyone else does.
From: Mark Thorson on 20 Dec 2008 19:09
RLW wrote:
>
> On Sat, 20 Dec 2008 10:38:49 -0800, Uncle Al wrote:
> > No, stupid. Glycerol triesters. . . .
>
> Gee Al, the IUC is not going to penalize you if you just call them
> "triglycerides", like everyone else does.

Ever since the chiralane nomenclature controversy,
Uncle Al writes the rules. :-)
From: Mark Thorson on 20 Dec 2008 19:58
Salmon Egg wrote:
>
> This is certainly not my field of expertise. My question is: What is the
> x-ray diffraction pattern of solidified wax? Is there any evidence of
> microcrystals?

If you break a piece of wax (or paraffin masquerading as wax),
you'll see a fine polycrystalline fracture surface. More pronounced
with paraffin (US usage, not UK) than with natural waxes (beeswax).

Some additives such as stearic acid are often used as hardeners
for paraffin wax. Pure stearic acid solidifies into a large-grain
polycrystalline solid.
From: Uncle Al on 20 Dec 2008 20:12
RLW wrote:
>
> On Sat, 20 Dec 2008 10:38:49 -0800, Uncle Al wrote:
> > No, stupid. Glycerol triesters. . . .
>
> Gee Al, the IUC is not going to penalize you if you just call them
> "triglycerides", like everyone else does.

Uncle Al endured a 5-credit term of biochemistry at 0800 hrs during
winter term in Michigan. Two direct results,

1) don't take biochemistry; and
2) Solved a lab's phosphatase assay problem - "don't use phosphate
buffer." Avoided walking through that hall thereafter.

Buncha maroons.

--
Uncle Al
http://www.mazepath.com/uncleal/
(Toxic URL! Unsafe for children and most mammals)
http://www.mazepath.com/uncleal/lajos.htm#a2
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