Why doesn't paper or wood change to liquid state on heating? Are they sublimatory substances?

Question

Has it to do with things being organic or inorganic?

Answer 1

Wood does not sublimate. If it sublimated then it would have the same chemical composition. What happens is that wood decomposes into a variety of gasses when it is heated.

Answer 2

Because of two reasons -

In presence of air (oxygen) once it is heated up it reaches burning state before it converts to liquid.

In absence of air if its heated up the complex molecules of wood or paper breaks into carbon and other smaller molecules.

Also wood is not a pure substance. It is mostly cellulose, but there is water and a lot of other materials mixed in there. The proportions of the components also vary from one type to other.

One can only determine the temperature/pressure at which a substance changes phase if it is pure. There's no way to "purify" wood, since doing so would make it something other than wood.

I suppose that one could melt pure cellulose, the major component of wood, in the absence of oxidizing agents, but cellulose is a polymer of variable length and would therefore have a wide range of melting points.

Answer 3

Physical chemistry is the science that figures out the properties of atoms, molecules, and molecular structures. Different forces hold the molecules of a solid together. As you increase their energy, you increase the range of their vibration. Heating ice allows the molecules to vibrate strongly enough so that they are not firmly bound to a single set of immediate neighbors. But they are still bound enough that they adhere to their neighbors, even though they move freely against each other. Heating them further causes them to escape the hydrogen bonds and move independently in a gas. Some molecules don't form hydrogen or polar bonds, so they don't have a liquid state. The cellulose molecules forming wood and paper are very long and tangle easily. Heating it (C6 H10 O5) drives off the oxygen and hydrogen as water, leaving behind only the carbon.

It does relate to being organic. Carbon, with its very powerful and flexible bonding, is an excellent building material for large, complex molecules with complex properties and behavior.

Answer 4

They are not sublimatory substances....

When paper or wood are heated they get oxidised.

The temperature required to oxidise these substances is far lower than the temperature required to melt them down. Hence the burn away on heating. Try baking them at an constant controlled temperature. They will just get oxidised and turn to ashes with getting burnt.

Answer 5

The vaporisation of a liquid to gas is an Endothermic process...Heat energy is Absorbed. (Not released), which is an Exothermic process).. When an aerosol is sprayed, the temperature of the container decreases due to pressure decrease...This is the 'Joules-Thompson' refrigeration effect. The liquid leaving the nozzle is a very fine, high velocity, lower pressure mist which, as it enters the surroundings, it absorbs heat and changes to vapour (gas). The absorbed heat of vaporisation (Latent Heat), is utilised in converting the liquid to vapour. (Increases the Kinetic Energy of the molecules).

Answer 6

Sublimation is a physical change. The reverse process is deposition.

Burning of paper is a chemical change.

Answer 7

they are not sublimatory substances. sublime substances are those which go to vapour state directly from solid state..their physical properties don not allow them to become liguids on heating.. they are flammable substances

Answer 8

No. It does not become liquid.

But depends on the type, quoted paper have things on them and most are that way so your observation is correct but it is limited to that type of paper.