Is Melting Exothermic?

Most recent answer: 05/14/2012

Q:
Is melting copper an example of exothermic?
- kate (age 14)
Georgetown,Guyana
A:
No, heat has to be added to make copper melt. So that's called an endothermic process. When copper freezes it releases heat, so that's called exothermic. The same pattern is true for any melting/freezing process where the melted state is the hotter one, as it almost always is.

Mike W.

(published on 05/14/2012)