Give scientific reason: Common salt has high melting point and boiling point

The high melting and boiling points of common salt (sodium chloride, NaCl) are due to the nature of its ionic bonding and crystal lattice structure.

Ionic Bonding: Sodium chloride is composed of sodium (Na⁺) and chloride (Cl⁻) ions. These ions are held together by strong electrostatic forces of attraction between the positively charged sodium ions and the negatively charged chloride ions. Ionic bonds are generally very strong compared to other types of chemical bonds, such as covalent or van der Waals forces, requiring a substantial amount of energy to break.

Crystal Lattice Structure: In its solid form, sodium chloride forms a highly ordered, three-dimensional crystal lattice. Each sodium ion is surrounded by six chloride ions and each chloride ion is surrounded by six sodium ions in an arrangement known as a face-centered cubic lattice. This structure maximizes the attractive forces between the ions, making the lattice very stable and contributing to the high melting and boiling points.

The combination of strong ionic bonds and the stable crystal lattice structure means that a large amount of thermal energy is needed to overcome these interactions and convert solid NaCl to liquid (melting) or gas (boiling) states. This is why common salt has a high melting point of about 801°C (1474°F) and a boiling point of about 1413°C (2575°F).