Question

Decide giving reason which one of the following pairs has the property indicated:

Fe or Cu has higher melting point.

Answer 1

1. Iron (Fe) has a higher melting point than Copper (Cu).
2. Fe has more unpaired electrons in its 3d orbitals compared to Cu, leading to stronger metallic bonding.
3. Stronger metallic bonds mean more energy is needed to break them, resulting in a higher melting point for Fe.
4. Cu has a nearly filled d-subshell (3d¹⁰), with fewer unpaired electrons, so metallic bonding is weaker.

Therefore, the stronger bonding of Fe gives it a higher melting point than Cu.