Name: Kobe Daniel.

Date: 5/8/2025

Student Exploration: Melting Points

Vocabulary: boiling point, covalent bond, intermolecular forces, ionic bond, melting point,
metallic bond, molecular solid, network solid, salt, smoke, sublimation, sublimation point,
transition point

Prior Knowledge Questions (Do these BEFORE using the Gizmo.)

1. Suppose you had two socks sticking together in the clothes dryer from static electricity.

What happens if they are spun gently? They will stop sticking.

2. What could happen if they are tumbled rapidly? There is a chance that they might stick.

Gizmo Warm-up
Like socks in the dryer, solids are held together by molecular-
scale forces. When solids are heated, molecules move faster
and spread apart as the solid becomes liquid and gas. In the
Melting Points Gizmo, you will measure the transition points at
which melting and boiling occur for a variety of substances.

The Gizmo shows a lab device used to determine melting points and boiling points. A small
amount of substance is placed in a glass tube and heated inside the device.

1. To begin, check that Sodium chloride is selected. Drag the dial to the right to apply heat.

A. When the temperature is around 600 °C, drag the dial back to 0. Notice that the
sodium chloride is red-hot, but it is still a solid.

B. Drag the dial to the right. When the sodium chloride melts, move the dial back to 0.

About what temperature does sodium chloride melt? Around 812 C

2. Click Reset. This time, decrease the setting on the dial as you get close to the melting point.
Notice that melting occurs over a range of temperatures. Can you determine the exact range
of temperatures over which melting occurs? (This may take several tries, be patient.)

What is the temperature range over which melting occurs? 800C to 804 C

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 Activity A: Get the Gizmo ready:

Covalent  Select the COLD ROOM tab.

compounds  Turn on Show molecular view.
 Check that Water is selected.

Introduction: A cold room is used to find the melting points of substances that are liquids or
gases at room temperature. This simulated cold room has a temperature of -120 °C.

Question: What happens when a substance melts?

1. Observe: Look at the molecular view of water.

A. What do you see? The water evaporates. Evaporation happens when water
molecules move fast enough to breakaway from a solution and move into the air.

The atoms in each water molecule are held together by covalent bonds. The
molecules are held together by intermolecular forces. This kind of substance is
called a molecular solid.

B. In the solid state, do the molecules move around freely or are they stuck in position?

They are stuck.

C. Using the Gizmo, determine the melting point and boiling point of water. To find the
approximate melting and boiling points you can heat the sample quickly. Then, run
another trial at a slower speed to find the exact temperatures.

Melting point: 0-3 C Boiling point: 100 C

D. Do the molecules move around more or less when water is a liquid? More

2. Experiment: Record the melting point and boiling point of water in the table below. Then,
use the Gizmo to find the melting and boiling points of hydrogen sulfide and ethanol. In each
case, record the range of temperature for each transition.

Chemical Melting point (°C) Boiling point (°C) Other transition point (°C)
Water 0-3 100 50
Hydrogen sulfide -77 50 35
Ethanol -111 80 -55
Carbon dioxide -72

Now try carbon dioxide. Do you notice anything unusual? It does not have a melting phase it
skips the boiling and moves into gas.

(Activity A continued on next page)

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Activity A (continued from previous page)

3. Observe: At normal atmospheric pressure, carbon dioxide undergoes sublimation, where

the solid transforms directly to a gas. Using the Gizmo, determine the sublimation point of
carbon dioxide and record it in the table under “Other transition point.”

4. Interpret: The melting point and boiling point can be used to measure the strength of
intermolecular forces holding the molecules together. Based on the melting and boiling
points, which substance do you think has the strongest intermolecular forces? The weakest?

Water

Explain your conclusions: Water is the strongest because it stays in the stuck phase the
longest.

5. Extend your thinking: Ethanol is an alcohol. The boiling points and molecular weights of
other alcohols are in the table (you can fill in ethanol’s boiling point from the last page).

Chemical Molecular weight (u) Boiling point (°C)

Methanol 32 65
Ethanol 46 78
1-Propanol 60 97
1-Butanol 74 117

A. Is there a pattern in the data? Explain. When the molecular weight increases by 14,
the boiling point increases by 37.

B. Make a prediction about the boiling point of 1-pentanol, an alcohol with a molecular

weight of 88 u. Explain. 125 degrees.

6. Analyze: Based on the boiling point data in your data on the previous page, does the pattern
in the alcohol boiling points always apply? Is molecular weight an important contributor to
intermolecular forces? Why or why not?

Yes, because you know the boiling point because of the molecular weight.

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 Activity B:
Get the Gizmo ready:
Melting points of
high-melting point  Select the LABORATORY tab.
chemicals  Check that Show molecular view is selected.

Introduction: The LABORATORY tab represents a normal lab with a temperature of 20 °C.
This room is used for substances that are solid at room temperature. Substances available
include salts with ionic bonds like sodium chloride, metals like silver and tungsten with
metallic bonds, molecular solids like paraffin wax, and a network solid, graphite.

Question: How can we predict melting points?

1. Observe: Select Lead. Add heat until the lead melts. Does lead melt into individual atoms or

molecules? It melts into individual atoms.

2. Collect data: Using the table below, record the melting point temperatures for the remaining
compounds. Each compound has been identified as an ionic salt, a metal, a network solid,
or a molecular solid. If the substance boils, record that temperature as well.

Melting point Boiling point Other transition

Chemical Substance type
(°C) (°C) temperature (°C)
Sodium chloride Ionic salt 801 1465 801
Copper (II)
Ionic salt 528 993 498
chloride
Lead Metal 320 1749 327.5
Silver Metal 970 2162 962
Tungsten Metal 3422 5555 3422
Graphite Network solid 3600 4200 sublime
Paraffin wax Molecular solid 64 350 56
Caffeine Molecular solid 230 340 -77

3. Interpret: Do all of the chemicals melt? How can you tell? No, because some substances
need different amounts of pressure to melt and break.

Note: Graphite is an example of a network solid. Graphite crystals are held together by
covalent bonds that together form one large net. Around 700 degrees, pieces of solid
graphite begin breaking off and traveling through the air. However, these pieces are still
solid. When a solid is suspended in a gas, it is called smoke.

(Activity B continued on next page)

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Activity B (continued from previous page)

4. Sort: Look for patterns by listing the chemicals from lowest to highest melting point. (For
carbon dioxide, list the sublimation point.)

Chemical Substance type Melting point (°C)

ethanol Alcohol -114
Hydrogen sulfide Colorless glass -82
Carbon dioxide Gas -78
Water Weak 1
Paraffin wax Molecular solid 64
caffeine Molecular solid 230
lead metal 320
Copper II chloride Ionic salt 528
Sodium chloride Ionic salt 801
Silver metal 970

5. Analyze: Think about the types of forces holding the atoms together in different chemicals.
Are there any patterns that can be drawn from the data? Explain.

Stronger forces increase the melting point.

6. Extend your thinking: What is the relative strength of intermolecular forces compared to the
forces between ions in a salt or the forces between metal atoms in a metallic bond?

Metal atoms in a metal bond are stronger than the forces between salt ions which are
stronger than intermolecular forces.

2019