What is the term for the temperature at which a solid becomes a liquid?

What is the term for the temperature at which a solid becomes a liquid?

• A. Density
• B. Boiling Point
• C. Melting Point
• D. Viscosity

Answer: (C)

The melting point is the temperature at which a solid becomes a liquid. At this temperature, particles gain enough energy to break the fixed positions in a solid’s structure and begin to flow as a liquid. For pure ice at standard pressure, that happens at 0°C, though the exact melting point can shift with pressure or the presence of impurities (for example, salt lowers the melting point of ice). This term is specifically about the solid-to-liquid transition, unlike boiling point, which is the liquid-to-gas transition, or properties like density and viscosity, which describe how much mass a substance has per volume or how easily it flows, not the temperature of a phase change.

The melting point is the temperature at which a solid becomes a liquid. At this temperature, particles gain enough energy to break the fixed positions in a solid’s structure and begin to flow as a liquid. For pure ice at standard pressure, that happens at 0°C, though the exact melting point can shift with pressure or the presence of impurities (for example, salt lowers the melting point of ice). This term is specifically about the solid-to-liquid transition, unlike boiling point, which is the liquid-to-gas transition, or properties like density and viscosity, which describe how much mass a substance has per volume or how easily it flows, not the temperature of a phase change.