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Wax Substitution Math Question (How to)
Say my recipe calls for 100 grams of Beeswax with an avg. melt point of 65C.
I want to substitute it with a similar wax that is vegan, but also has a higher melt point, Sunflower, with an average melt point of 75C.
If I make a 1:1 substitution, the result is too hard.
I figure I have two options:
1. Use 100 grams of Sunflower wax but increase the liquid (oil) in the recipe in order to have more liquid softeness.
2. Reduce the 100 grams of wax in the recipe to a smaller number in order to have less wax hardness.I’d like to do #2. What would be the general math formula that I would use? Could I say, for example:
Could it be as simple as: 65C x 100 gr = 6500 / 75 = solve for 85gr?
Or am I messing up my concepts too much?
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3 Replies
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It’s not nearly as simple as you want to believe. When a wax melts it is changing state from solid to liquid. This requires a heat input. (Latent heat of fusion) and the formula is: delta Q = m.L where delta Q is the change in heat (calories) and m = mass and L the latent heat of fusion which is different for sunflower wax compared to beeswax. Therefore to achieve melting you not only have to input the change in temp x specific heat but also the latent heat.
So this is one instance in which a general knowledge of chemistry is required. (Or is it physics?) -
Thanks, I knew it couldn’t be that simple, but I wasn’t sure what science I was missing.
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Begin by measuring the melting point and latent heat of your current formula. Otherwise it’s a lifetime of experiments…
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