Melting Point

Heating a solid will increase the energy of its atoms or ions up to a point where the energy levels become high enough to partially disrupt the forces holding the atoms or ions in their fixed position. At this point, the solid starts to transition into the liquid state, which is called melting. The temperature at which the solid and liquid phase are in equilibrium is called melting point.

The melting point depends on the attractive forces between the atoms or ions in the solid - the higher the attractive forces, the higher the melting point.

Ionic crystals typically have a higher melting point than molecular compounds due to their high attractive forces within the three-dimensional crystal lattice.