Posted by Richard on Friday, February 26, 2010 at 9:41am.
As the polarity of molecules increase, their melting points increase because bonds between the molecules are stronger.
Metallic bonding is described as a sea of electrons in which the atoms are immersed. Na has one electron from each atom to offer to the sea. Mg has a smaller radius than Na AND it has two electrons to offer; therefore, bonding forces are stronger for Mg and the melting point is a little higher. The same kind of reasoning extends to Al. It is smaller still, it has three electron to offer for each atom, and the melting point is still higher. Here is a site that gives a simplified discussion.
http://www.chemguide.co.uk/atoms/bonding/metallic.html
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