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.

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