Paraffin waxes, i.e., long chain alkanes, can be thought of as packing similarly to polyethylene. In polyethylene, the molecular chains pack in an extended linear conformation, but without lamellar ordering as the polyethylene is assumed to exhibit effectively infinite chain extension. Finite linear alkanes of n carbon atoms in high purity forms, with minimal chain length dispersion, organize into lamellar blocks with gaps in between aligned chain ends at the boundaries of the block or lamella. These n-alkane chains pack with chains fully extended and end to end. Molecules of equal length form well-defined layers within these lamellae where the length of the molecule determines the interlamellar spacing. Polydisperse n-alkane (paraffin) waxes readily form solid solutions, lowering the degree of ordering such that paraffins exhibit polymorphism based on chain length, purity and temperature. Nevertheless, solid solutions of paraffins will still form single crystals when chain lengths are within four carbon units of each other.