Congruent melting occurs during
melting
Melting, or fusion, is a physical process that results in the phase transition of a substance from a solid to a liquid. This occurs when the internal energy of the solid increases, typically by the application of heat or pressure, which inc ...
of a compound when the composition of the liquid that forms is the same as the composition of the solid. It can be contrasted with
incongruent melting
Incongruent melting occurs when a solid substance does not melt uniformly, so that the chemical composition of the resulting liquid is not the same as that of the original solid. During incongruent melting a new solid of different composition form ...
. This generally happens in two-
component
Circuit Component may refer to:
•Are devices that perform functions when they are connected in a circuit.
In engineering, science, and technology Generic systems
* System components, an entity with discrete structure, such as an assem ...
systems. To take a general case, let A and B be the two components and AB a stable solid compound formed by their chemical combination. If we draw a
phase diagram for the system, we notice that there are three solid phases, namely A, B and compound AB. Accordingly, there will be three fusion or freezing point curves AC, BE and CDE for the three solid phases. In the phase diagram, we can notice that the top point D of the phase diagram is the congruent melting point of the compound AB because the solid and liquid phases now have the same composition. Evidently, at this
temperature
Temperature is a physical quantity that expresses quantitatively the perceptions of hotness and coldness. Temperature is measurement, measured with a thermometer.
Thermometers are calibrated in various Conversion of units of temperature, temp ...
, the two-component system has become a one-component system because both solid and liquid phases contains only the compound AB.
[Atkins' Physical Chemistry, 8th edition, by Peter Atkins and Julio De Paula]
Congruent melting point represents a definite temperature just like the melting points of pure components. In some phase diagrams, the congruent melting point of a compound AB may lie above the melting points of pure components A and B. But it is not always necessarily the case. There are different types of systems known in which the congruent melting point is observed below the melting points of the pure components. This happens for inter-metallic compounds, for example, for .
See also
*
Congruent transition
Incongruent transition, in chemistry, is a mass transition between two phases which involves a change in chemical composition. This is contrasted with congruent transition, for which the composition remains the same.
The transition may be that ...
*
Incongruent melting
Incongruent melting occurs when a solid substance does not melt uniformly, so that the chemical composition of the resulting liquid is not the same as that of the original solid. During incongruent melting a new solid of different composition form ...
*
Phase diagram
*
Phase rule
In thermodynamics, the phase rule is a general principle governing "pVT" systems, whose thermodynamic states are completely described by the variables pressure (), volume () and temperature (), in thermodynamic equilibrium. If is the number of d ...
References
Phase transitions
Materials science
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