Melting

High school (ages 12+)
Science & Technology

Name:

Date:

Step 1 · Read the article

Open the article and read it at the level above. Then answer the questions below in your own words.

https://smallwhale.org/articles/melting

Write what each word means, using the article.

Do not copy the article. Write two things you learned, the way you would explain them to a friend.

Answers below are taken from the article’s stored facts, so they match what the student read.

1. What is the thermodynamic equilibrium?Achieved when Gibbs free energy of solid and liquid phases are equal
2. What is the clausius-clapeyron relation?Describes the effect of pressure on the melting point
3. What happens when a solid turns into a liquid?The solid absorbs energy called latent heat, which makes its atoms vibrate more until they can break the bonds that keep the solid together. Then the material becomes a liquid.
4. Why does ice melt into water?Ice has special hydrogen bonds that hold its molecules together. When it gets warm, the molecules get enough energy to break those bonds and the ice turns into liquid water.

Phase Transition: A physical process where a substance changes from one state to another (e.g., solid to liquid).
Gibbs Free Energy: A thermodynamic potential that can be used to calculate the maximum reversible work from a thermodynamic system.
Latent Heat: The heat absorbed or released during a phase change at constant temperature.