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Melting (also known as ''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 increases the substance's temperature to the melting point. At the melting point, the ordering of ions or molecules in the solid breaks down to a less ordered state, and the solid melts to become a liquid. An object that has melted completely is molten (although this word is typically used for substances that melt only at a high temperature, such as molten iron or molten lava). Substances in the molten state generally have reduced viscosity as the temperature increases. An exception to this principle is the element sulfur, whose viscosity increases to a point due to polymerization and then decreases with higher temperatures in its molten state.〔C. Michael Hogan (2011) ''Sulfure'', Encyclopedia of Earth, eds. A.Jorgensen and C.J.Cleveland, National Council for Science and the environment, Washington DC.〕 Some organic compounds melt through mesophases, states of partial order between solid and liquid. == Melting as a first-order phase transition == From a thermodynamics point of view, at the melting point the change in Gibbs free energy ''∆G'' of the material is zero, but there are non-zero changes in the enthalpy (''H'') and the entropy (''S''), known respectively as the enthalpy of fusion (or latent heat of fusion) and the entropy of fusion. Melting is therefore classified as a first-order phase transition. Melting occurs when the Gibbs free energy of the liquid becomes lower than the solid for that material. The temperature at which this occurs is dependent on the ambient pressure. Low-temperature helium is the only known exception to the general rule. Helium-3 has a negative enthalpy of fusion at temperatures below 0.3 K. Helium-4 also has a very slightly negative enthalpy of fusion below 0.8 K. This means that, at appropriate constant pressures, heat must be ''removed'' from these substances in order to melt them. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「melting」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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