Question

Which would melt first, germanium with a melting point of $121\,K$ or gold with a melting point of ${1064^0}C$ ?

Answer 1

Hint:In physics, melting point of any solid substance is defined as the particular temperature at which solid substance just starts to melts, therefore when a solid substance is heated and its temperature is raised, at a definite amount of temperature the solid material of the substance starts to melt and then it melts complete into its liquid form, this temperature called melting point of the solid substance, and the melting point of every solid substance is different. We will use the concept that the substance among gold and germanium which will have a lower melting point in a common unit of temperature will melt first.

Complete step by step answer:
According to the question, it’s given to us that, the melting point of gold is equals to ${1064^0}C$ now, let us first convert this Celsius scale temperature into Kelvin scale by using the general formula we have,
$273{ + ^0}C = K(scale)$
So, we get
$273 + 1064$
$\therefore 1336\,K$
So, now we have a melting point of germanium which is $121K$ and the melting point of gold is $ = 1336K$ so, the melting point of germanium is less than that of gold hence, the germanium will melt first.

Hence, germanium with a melting point of $121\,K$ will melt first than gold.

Note: It should be remembered that, the melting point of any solid substance is mainly depend upon the type of materials the solid substance is made of, and whenever we compare the temperatures or melting point of any two substances make sure they have the temperatures in common unit either in Kelvin scale or in Celsius scale.