Freezing of a Melt to a Vitreous Solid

Abstract

At a certain temperature (the melting point, T_m), vibrating lattice elements of a crystalline solid will no longer return to sites bonded to their neighbors. The crystal lattice collapses and the crystal loses its shape; it changes to the liquid state, i. e., it melts. Unless additional energy is supplied, sufficient to remove all elements from lattice sites, the system maintains equilibrium: As many elements as enter the melt return to the remaining orderly lattice. In this state of equilibrium, a crystal will neither grow nor melt completely.