I know this sounds like a silly question but when a candle bought at Yankee Candle burns away, and the jar is empty, is there a waxy coating on the walls of my room? Would one eventually over the years, be able to notice the waxy coating in the room? Are we breathing in wax while the candles burning? I have a lot of questions just like a five-year-old LOL. Someone please help.
In: Chemistry
Wax is made of big, sticky molecules made of lots of carbon and hydrogen atoms joined together fairly loosely. When heated in the flame, those molecules break apart into carbon and hydrogen. The carbon binds tightly to two oxygen atoms from the air to make carbon dioxide. The two hydrogen atoms bind tightly to an oxygen atom to make water. The process of these atoms snapping tightly together releases energy, in the form of heat, which produces the bright flame and breaks up more wax to release more carbon and hydrogen.
The carbon dioxide mixes with the air and is carried away, as does the water, adding a little more humidity to the air.
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