If a sample contains impurities, its melting point will be ______________ than a pure sample.

Question

If a sample contains impurities, its melting point will be ______________  than a pure sample.

anonymous · Answer

It will be lower. Think of roads in winter. Salts are thrown about to prevent ice from freezing - that is - they lower the melting point, so that if outside temperature is -5, pure ice would be frozen, and ice + salt would still be a liquid.

jfraser · Answer

@suzanka is correct, though not everyone knows about salt on the roads in winter, if your roads never freeze. Mine certainly do, but not everywhere

anonymous · Answer

@JFraser - yeah, I should have realised that my example might not be intuitive to everyone.

aaronq · Answer

i think it's more correct to state that the MP $broadens$ because what you get from a measurement is a range, not the sharp transition that would be observed in a pure substance.