melting point (redirected from Melting point order)

melting point, temperature at which a substance changes its state from solid to liquid. Under standard atmospheric pressure different pure crystalline solids will each melt at a different specific temperature; thus melting point is a characteristic of a substance and can be used to identify it. When heat is applied continuously and in sufficient quantity to such solids, the temperature rises steadily until it reaches the point at which liquefaction occurs. Here the rise ceases and no further change in temperature is observed until all of the substance has been converted to liquid. The heat being applied to the substance at that temperature is consumed in bringing about the change of state, and none is available to raise the temperature of that part of the substance already liquefied until all of it has changed to the liquid. If heat is still applied when liquefaction is complete, the temperature will begin to rise again. The quantity of heat necessary to change one gram of any substance from solid to liquid at its melting point is known as its latent heat of fusion and differs for different substances. Ice, for example, requires approximately 80 calories of heat to change each gram to water at its melting point. Because its heat of fusion is relatively high, ice is used in refrigeration. In freezing (the reverse process, i.e., the change from liquid to solid), heat is given off by the substance undergoing the change, and the amount given off is the same as that absorbed in melting.

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melting point

Temperature at which the solid and liquid states of a pure substance can exist in equilibrium. As heat is applied to a solid, its temperature increases until it reaches the melting point. At this temperature, additional heat converts the solid into a liquid without a change in temperature. The melting point of solid water (ice) is 32°F (0°C). Though the melting point of a solid is generally considered to be the same as the freezing point of the corresponding liquid, they may differ because a liquid may freeze into different crystal systems and impurities can lower the freezing point.

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melting point

the temperature at which a solid turns into a liquid. It is equal to the freezing point

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melting point [′melt·iŋ ‚pȯint]

(thermodynamics)

The temperature at which a solid of a pure substance changes to a liquid. Abbreviated mp.

For a solution of two or more components, the temperature at which the first trace of liquid appears as the solution is heated.