Difference Between Molten and Aqueous

The key difference between molten and aqueous is that the term molten refers to the liquid state of materials that are liquified by heat, whereas the term aqueous refers to the liquid state of materials that are liquified by dissolving in water.

The terms molten and aqueous has different meanings, but both are liquid states of materials. Therefore, we can observe the flowing nature of materials in their molten and aqueous states. Furthermore, the molten or aqueous state of materials have no shape, and they take the shape of the container.

1. Overview and Key Difference
2. What Does Molten Mean
3. What is Does Aqueous Mean
4. Side by Side Comparison – Molten vs Aqueous in Tabular Form
6. Summary

What Does Molten Mean?

Molten state is the liquid state of materials with high melting points that are liquified by the application of heat. The most common examples for the application of this term include metals and glass in their molten state. More importantly, a molten state is obtained only through the application of heat; not through dissolving a substance in a solvent.

The substance that can become molten usually have high melting points; thus, they are solid substances at room temperature. These materials are heated to the point/temperature, which makes them melt.

Figure 01: Molten Metal

In addition to metals and glass, salts are also able to undergo melting upon heating in order to obtain the molten state. Generally, molten salts are inorganic, non-aqueous media that are less sensitive to radiolysis hazards than aqueous media. Moreover, molten salts are considered as primary coolants and heat transfer media for nuclear energy systems for a long time. This is because molten salts have high boiling points, volumetric heat capacities and high thermal conductivities.

What Does Aqueous Mean?

Aqueous state is the liquid state of materials that are liquified by dissolving the material in water. Therefore, when preparing an aqueous state of a material, we must use water as the solvent. The resulting mixture of water and the substance is called a solution where water is the solvent, and the material that is dissolved in water is the solute.

Figure 01: Dissolving Sugar in Water to get an Aqueous Solution of Sugar

Typically, substances that can dissolve in water are polar compounds. This is because water is a polar solvent. However, an aqueous solution can be prepared by dissolving either a solid or another liquid substance in water.

Concentration is a very important property of an aqueous solution because it gives the details about the amount of the substance that is dissolved in a unit volume of solution and also determines the chemical behaviour of the aqueous solution.

What is the Difference Between Molten and Aqueous?

The key difference between molten and aqueous is that the term molten refers to the liquid state of materials liquified by heat, whereas the term aqueous refers to the liquid state of materials that are liquified by dissolving in water. Thus, the molten state is achieved by only applying heat while the aqueous state is achieved only by dissolving in water.

The below infographic shows the differences between molten and aqueous in tabular form.

Summary – Molten vs Aqueous

Molten state is the liquid state of materials with high melting points that are liquified by the application of heat while aqueous state is the liquid state of materials that are liquified by dissolving the material in water. Therefore, the key difference between molten and aqueous is that molten state is achieved by only applying heat while the aqueous state is achieved only by dissolving in water.

Reference:

1. Helmenstine, Anne Marie. “Aqueous Solution Definition in Chemistry.” ThoughtCo, Aug. 27, 2020, Available here.
2. “Molten salt.” Science Direct, Available here.