Melting Point / Boiling Point and the Enthalpy of Vaporization

The enthalpy of vaporization Enthalpy heat absorb when 1 mol of an element is

converted from liquid to vapour at its boiling point.
3 type of chemical bonding 1. Metallic structure ( Metallic bond )
and structure
2. Giant covalent molecule
3. Simple covalent molecule
Melting and boiling points Giant covalent molecule > Metallic structure >
across the period Simple covalent molecule

Strength of metallic bond ↑ Number of valence electrons ↑, Metallic

radius ↓, nuclear charge ↑
Bond strength (giant covalent molecule) Bond length ↓
↑
Van der Waals forces between molecule Molecular size (relative molecular mass) ↑
(simple covalent molecule) ↑

Period 2 Melting point Boiling point Period 3 Melting point Boiling point
/ °C / °C / °C / °C
Li 180.54 1342 Na 97.72 883
Be 1287 2470 Mg 650 1090
B 2075 4000 Al 660.32 2519
C 3550 4027 Si 1414 2900
(diamond)
N -210.1 -195.79 P 44.2 280.5
O -218.3 -182.9 S 115.21 444.72
F -219.6 -188.12 Cl -101.5 -34.04
Ne -248.59 -246.08 Ar -189.3 -185.8

Melting and boiling points:

1. Across the metal in Period 2 and 3
Li → Be Valence electrons ↑
Na → Mg → Al Ionic radius ↓
Metallic bond ↑
Melting and boiling points ↑
When metals in the liquid state changes into vapour, the atoms must break all the
metallic bonds which still exist in the liquid state. As a result, the boiling points of
metals are very much higher than their melting points.

2. Metals in same group

Li → Na Ionic radius ↑
Be → Mg Metallic bond ↓
Melting and boiling points ↓

3. Giant covalent molecule

B→C Each carbon atom is covalently bonded by 4 other carbon atoms in
diamond while each boron atom is covalently bonded by 3 other boron
atoms.
More energy required to break more bonds in diamond than boron.
 The melting and boiling point of C is higher than B.
C → Si Silicon has similiar structure as diamond.
The bond length between C-C bond in diamond is shorter than Si-Si
bond in silicon.
More energy required to break the C-C bonds than Si-Si bonds.
Diamond(carbon) has much higher melting and boiling point than that of
silicon.

4. Simple covalent molecule

N2 → O2 → F2 → Ne RMM N2=28
RMM O2=32
RMM F2=38
RAM Ne=20.2
But N2 > O2 > F2 > Ne
The process of fusion/melting of a solid has to do with the
interactions, attractive and repulsive, between the units that
compose the corresponding solid.
If the repulsive forces are instead the most important ones
then we will not need such a high temperature to melt the
solid.
We can see that N2 only has 4 non-bonding electrons,
while O2 has 8 and F2 has 12. This makes the accumulation
of negative charge in that outer shell much higher in the
case of fluorine molecule and that will produce a bigger
repulsion between molecules, bigger than the attraction
provided by the increase of mass, so it will melt at a lower
temperature.

P4 → S8 → Cl2 → Ar RMM P4=124

RMM S8=256.8
RMM Cl2=71
RAM Ar=39.9
 Molecular size ↑, van der Waals forces between molecule ↑
Ar < Cl2 < P4 < S8

Electrical Conductivity

Period 2 Electrical conductivity increases from Lithium to Beryllium.

The number of valence electrons increases.
The number of delocalised electrons increases.
Boron is metalloid.
There is a small gap between valence band and conduction band.
Carbon has two allotropes: diamond and graphite
Graphite is a poor electric conductor and is classified as metalloid.
It can conduct electricity due to the vast electron delocalization
within the carbon layers.
Diamond is classified as non-metal.
Nitrogen, oxygen, fluorine and neon are non-metal.
They do not have mobile electrons.
There is a large gap between valence band and conduction band.
Period 3 Electrical conductivity increases from sodium to aluminium.
The number of valence electrons increases.
 The number of delocalised electrons increases.
Silicon is metalloid.
Phosphorus, sulphur, chlorine, and argon are non-metal.
The electrical conductivity of a metalloid (semiconductor) increases with increase in
temperature because with increase in temperature the electrons overcome the energy
barrier between the valence band and the conduction band easily. The
electrical conductivity of a metalloid also increases when it is doped with an element.