Does silicon dioxide have a high melting point? Why or why not?

1 Answer
anor277
Jul 21, 2016

Silicon dioxide has an exceptionally high melting point, which you should look up and report.

Explanation:

#SiO_2# is a homologue of #CO_2#, a molecular, room temperature gas. Silicon dioxide is non-molecular, and forms an infinite array of #Si-O# bonds. On the other hand, the shorter #C-O# bonds allows #pi# bonding between the 2 atoms and a discrete molecular structure.

Related questions
See all questions in How Intermolecular Forces Affect Phases of Matter
Impact of this question
8484 views around the world
You can reuse this answer
Creative Commons License