When you heat sulphur it turns from a solid to a liquid. Are the atoms the same when it is solid and when it is liquid?

Arpeggionist

Sure are, they're just further apart. Nov 11 04, 3:17 PM

peasypod

And have a higher average speed. Nov 11 04, 4:02 PM

gmackematix

Because sulphur atoms tend to connect to each other to form chains (a process known as catenation), molten sulphur is strange stuff. Typically, when solid sulphur is heated to 120 deg C, it melts and forms a pal yellow liquid which flows better than water. In this form the atoms are covalently bonded (sharing electrons with one another) to form rings of eight (formula S8). These rings slide easily over one another but can't connect or tangle, which is why the liquid is not viscous. However, heat it up to somewhere beyond about 150 deg C and those rings of sulphur atoms break and tangle. The result is a dark red liquid that is over 2000 times more sticky than the previous liquid. I'm not sure about this but although the atoms of the hotter stickier liquid are vibrating faster they probably have less kinetic energy originally because the fluid is not flowing like the original. Nov 11 04, 6:13 PM

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