Paraffin wax is a soft colorless solid, extracted from petroleum, coal or oil shale, and composed of a mixture of hydrocarbon molecules containing twenty to forty carbon atoms. It is solid at room temperature and begins to melt above about 37 ° C (99 ° F). Its boiling point is higher than 370 ° C (698 ° F). Common applications of paraffin include lubrication, electrical insulation and candles; Dyed paraffin can be made into crayons. It is different from kerosene and other petroleum products sometimes called paraffin.

The colorless and tasteless paraffin candle is tasteless and blue white. Paraffin wax was first created by Carl Reichenbach in Germany in 1830, marking a major progress in candle making technology, because it is cleaner and more reliable than butter candles, and has lower production costs

In chemistry, paraffin is a synonym for alkanes, representing hydrocarbons with the general formula CnH2n+2. The name comes from the Latin word parum ("rarely")+affinis, which means "lack of affinity" or "lack of reactivity", referring to the non reactivity of paraffin wax.

Paraffin wax is mainly a white, tasteless, tasteless waxy solid with a typical melting point of about 46 to 68 ° C (115 to 154 ° F)  and a density of about 900 kg/m3. It is insoluble in water, but soluble in ether, benzene and some esters. Paraffin wax is not affected by most common chemical reagents, but it is easy to burn. Its combustion heat is 42 MJ/kg.

Hydrocarbon C31H64 is a typical component of paraffin.

Paraffin wax is an excellent electrical insulator with a resistivity of 1013 to 1017 ohm meters. This is better than almost all other materials except some plastics (especially PTFE). It is an effective neutron moderator, which was used to identify neutrons in James Chadwick's 1932 experiment