The Stability of Crystal Lattices

A short survey of Born's theory of the thermodynamics and melting of crystals is given. It is shown that Lindemann's and Grüneisen's law for the normal melting temperature can be deduced from this theory, and that the dependence of the melting temperature on pressure, and of the compressibility and the elastic constants on pressure and temperature, as predicted by the theory, are in good agreement with experiment. Several connexions between breaking and melting, suggested by the fundamental ideas on melting and stability of crystals, are discussed and verified. Finally a relation between the heat of melting and the heat of sublimation is deduced and compared with experiment.