Question

Explain the factors affecting the melting point.

Answer 1

Melting point: It is defined as the temperature at which a solid starts melting.

Factors affecting the melting point:

• Pressure: Increase in pressure increase the melting point of the compounds which expands on melting and it decreases with an increase in pressure for the compound which contracts on melting.
• Impurity: The addition of impurities to the compound results in a decrease in melting point.
• Bonding: The melting point also depends upon the type of bonding between the compound. The compounds having ionic bonding have more melting points than compounds having covalent bonding.
• Hydrogen bonding: The compounds having intermolecular hydrogen bonding have more melting points than compounds having intramolecular hydrogen bonding.

Hydrogen bonding: It is the type of bonding that exists between Hydrogen(H) and a highly electronegative atom.

Intermolecular hydrogen bonding: It is the type of hydrogen bonding that exists between different molecules.

Intramolecular hydrogen bonding: It is the type of hydrogen bonding that exists within a molecule.