Energy needed to melt crystal?

[User1657]

I'm just wondering, but what is the energy needed to melt crystal? I'm asking because I'm reading a novel, Fall of Hyperion, and in one particular passage a laser from a handgun is said to strike crystal until it 'slags and runs.' This is at most a few seconds. Is this calculable?

Thanks.

[Khas]

Depends on what type of crystal, really. Ice forms crystals, but I doubt that we're going to need a lot of energy for melting that. Diamond, on the other hand, being pure carbon, is going to need a shitload of energy to slag, since carbon has the highest melting point of any element.

[KSW]

"Crystal" typically just means a solid form of something.

Simply take the melting-energy of that substance, along with the specific heat of the substance required to raise it to the melting-point from the ambient temperature, times the mass.