Rosin taken when melting it. It is soluble in alcohol, ether, benzene and chloroform. Rosin consists mainly of abietic acid, and combines with caustic alkalis to form salts (rosinates or pinates) that are known as rosin soaps. In addition to its extensive use in soap making, rosin is largely employed in making varnishes (including fine violin varnishes), sealing wax and various adhesives. It is also used for preparing shoemakers' wax, for pitching lager beer casks, and numerous other purposes such as providing backing surfaces to tin ware, copper ware, or even silver and gold vessels when embossing or engraving them (its
Hanna Rosin Hanna Rosin Hanna Rosin (born 1970) is an American author and writer. She is the co-host of the NPR podcast Invisibilia with Alix Spiegel. She is co-founder of DoubleX, a women's site connected to the online magazine "Slate". Rosin writes for "The Atlantic", and has written for "The Washington Post", "The New Yorker", "GQ", "New York" and "The New Republic". She is the author of "God's Harvard" (2007) and "The End of Men: And the Rise of Women" (2012). Rosin was born to a Jewish family in Israel but grew up in Queens, where her father was a taxi driver.