Q: Why do crystals have relatively sharp and well-defined melting points?


Read this paragraph and choose the correct option from the provided answers:

Deformation of the ionic crystal causes one plane of atoms to slide along another. The resulting repulsive interactions between ions with like charges cause the layers to separate. Crystals tend to have relatively sharp, well-defined melting points because all the component atoms, molecules, or ions are the same distance from the same number and type of neighbors; that is, the regularity of the crystalline lattice creates local environments that are the same. Thus the intermolecular forces holding the solid together are uniform, and the same amount of thermal energy is needed to break every interaction simultaneously. Amorphous solids have two characteristic properties. When cleaved or broken, they produce fragments with irregular, often curved surfaces; and they have poorly defined patterns when exposed to x-rays because their components are not arranged in a regular array. An amorphous, translucent solid is called a glass. Almost any substance can solidify.

 Choices:

- particular intermolecular forces

- variable intermolecular forces

- angular intermolecular forces

- uniform intermolecular forces


A:
uniform intermolecular forces