The melting point of sodium is 97.8`C. Would you expect the melting point of iodine to be higher or lower?
Well, imagine throwing a clown party. Sodium would be the one who arrives all flashy, with his melting point at 97.8°C. Now, iodine, on the other hand, might be fashionably late to the party, but it's cool and collected. So, Iodine's melting point takes its time and is actually higher than sodium's. Spoiler alert: Iodine likes to show off its solid state until its melting point at a cool 113.5°C.
Iodine has a higher melting point compared to sodium. The melting point of iodine is 113.7°C.
To determine whether the melting point of iodine would be higher or lower than that of sodium, we need to consider the periodic table and the trends in melting points across elements.
In general, melting points tend to increase as we move from left to right across a period and decrease as we move down a group in the periodic table.
Both sodium (Na) and iodine (I) are in the same period of the periodic table, which is the third period. However, sodium is in Group 1 (alkali metals) while iodine is in Group 17 (halogens).
As we move from left to right in the periodic table across the same period, the atomic size decreases, which increases the strength of the metallic bonds. This generally leads to higher melting points. Therefore, we would expect sodium, being to the left, to have a lower melting point than iodine.
Additionally, halogens (Group 17 elements) have higher melting points compared to alkali metals (Group 1 elements) due to stronger intermolecular forces. The larger atomic size and the presence of more electrons in halogens contribute to the formation of stronger intermolecular forces and thus higher melting points.
Therefore, we would expect the melting point of iodine to be higher than that of sodium.
To verify this, we can refer to the periodic table or consult reliable sources for the exact melting point of iodine.