Chemistry Of Waxing Essay

Chemistry is a world many of us forget exist in our daily lives. We go about our routines, forgetting that chemistry plays a key role in our lives. As a skier, I noticed the unseen world of chemistry when I am preparing for ski races, waxing my skis. Preparing my skis for a race weekend requires applying multiple layers of wax to my skis. The wax we use is commonly a fluorocarbon mixture. In order for the wax to be saturated into the ski, the block must be melted with an iron. Once the wax melts on the iron, the wax is dripped onto the entire ski. In order to ensure that the wax is melted into the ski, a hand iron is slid down the ski several times. Once the ski cools from the wax, the wax solidify and hardens. The chemistry of waxing …show more content…
Depending on the temperature, the wax is harder for colder temperatures and softer for warmer temperatures. The various hardness shifts the melting point of the wax. A harder, denser wax will have a higher melting point, (upwards of 140 degrees Celsius) and a soft wax will have a much lower melting point. Another physical change that is observed when waxing skis is the transfer from a unified form solid to a liquid that has no definite shape. These physical properties that are observed help skiers determine what type of wax to use for a specific temperature and snow condition. The chemistry of snow and waxing is crucial to waxing skis because it helps ensure our skis glide smoothly on the snow. The unseen world of chemistry is present everyone. It affects everyone on a daily basis from routine activities to athletics. Skiing has showed me the importance of physical changes and explains how ski wax goes through the states of matter when applying wax to a ski. If I did not understand the physical properties of wax, the various density of waxes and their melting points, I would struggle with selecting the correct wax for the trail