Candle Wax

[grantj65]

When you burn a candle, does it evaporate in to the air or where does it go? 

[smudge]

I was just sitting on the sofa watching one of my big church candles burning down & wondering the same thing.

[j2buttonsw]

Yes it combusts (rather than evaporates) ultimately to CO2.

[brachiopod]

Candle Wax is a mixture of petroleum-derived hydrocarbons (alkanes) which, when burnt, produce carbon dioxide and water.

Cheaper candles tend to use the lower melting point waxes (' LMP Wax') that tend to burn more quickly. Better quality candles are made from, or contain a larger proportion of HMP waxes (higher melting point) to produce a candle that burns slowly and steadily with very little 'drip'.

So the answer is the candle is 'burnt away' to its combustion products, though a small proportion of wax will always melt and dribble down the side of the candle and on to your table / tablecloth / carpet etcetera.

[Clanad]

To illuminate further (pun intended)...

When you light a candle, you melt the wax in and near the wick. The wick absorbs the liquid wax and pulls it upward. The heat of the flame vaporizes the wax, and it is the wax vapor that burns. You can prove that it is wax vapor, rather than liquid wax, that is burning with two experiments:

If you place one end of a metal or glass tube (shaped like a thin straw, 4 to 6 inches long) into a candle's flame at a 45-degree angle, you can then light the upper end of the tube. The paraffin vapor flows up the tube and is the fuel for this second flame.

When you blow out a candle, you notice a stream of white smoke leaving the wick. This stream is paraffin vapor that has condensed into a visible form. It continues to form as long as the wick is hot enough to vaporize paraffin. If you touch a lit match to the stream, a flame will run down it and re-light the wick.
The reason the wick does not burn is because the vaporizing wax cools the exposed wick and protects it...

[Lil,Bit]

U know what? I never really thought about that