Melting point of ice at 1 atmosphere of pressure is very close to ; this is also known as the ice point. In the presence of nucleating substances, the freezing point of water is not always the same as the melting point. In the absence of nucleators water can exist as a supercooled liquid down to −48.3 °C (−55 °F, 224.8 K) before freezing. The chemical element with the highest melting point is tungsten, at ; this property makes tungsten excellent for use as filaments in light bulbs. The often-cited carbon does not melt at ambient pressure but sublimes at about ;
Flux melting Flux melting In igneous petrology, flux melting occurs when water and other volatile components are added to hot solid rock. In engineering and metallurgy, flux is a substance, such as salt, that produces a low melting point mixture with a metal oxide. In the same way, the addition of water and other volatile compounds to rocks composed of silicate minerals lowers the melting temperature of those rocks. In subduction zones, the ultramafic rock of the upper mantle is melted by the addition of volatiles from the down-going plate. The subducting slab of oceanic crust carries water and other volatiles into