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Why does it take more energy for a liquid to vaporize than for its solid form to melt?

Question

Why does it take more energy for a liquid to vaporize than for its solid form to melt?

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Solution

The reason it takes more energy for a liquid to vaporize than for its solid form to melt is due to the differences in the forces that need to be overcome in each process.

  1. In the process of melting (solid to liquid), the energy is used to overcome the forces holding the molecules in a rigid structure. While the molecules in a solid are held together tightly, they still have some ability to vibrate or move around. Therefore, the energy required to disrupt these forces and allow the molecules to move more freely (as in a liquid) is relatively less.

  2. On the other hand, in the process of vaporization (liquid to gas), the energy is used to completely break the forces between the molecules. In a liquid, the molecules are free to move around but are still attracted to each other. To vaporize, the molecules must gain enough energy to completely overcome these attractive forces and move independently of each other (as in a gas). This requires a greater amount of energy.

  3. Therefore, it takes more energy to vaporize a liquid than to melt a solid because the forces between molecules in a liquid are stronger and require more energy to overcome.

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