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Sunday 1 April 2012

Elements


Phosphorus
Phosphorus contains P4 molecules. To melt phosphorus you don't have to break any covalent bonds - just the much weaker van der Waals forces between the molecules.
Sulphur
Sulphur consists of S8 rings of atoms. The molecules are bigger than phosphorus molecules, and so the van der Waals attractions will be stronger, leading to a higher melting and boiling point.
Chlorine
Chlorine, Cl2, is a much smaller molecule with comparatively weak van der Waals attractions, and so chlorine will have a lower melting and boiling point than sulphur or phosphorus.
Argon
Argon molecules are just single argon atoms, Ar. The scope for van der Waals attractions between these is very limited and so the melting and boiling points of argon are lower again.

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