When talking about the “miracle” of the blood of Saint Gennaroit is often said that blood “Yes melts”. However, from a scientific point of view, this Not it is the expression correct. The phenomenon that occurs is, more precisely, a “fusion” of blood, and not a dissolution. In fact, the term “MELT” refers to a process in which a solute dissolves into a solvent forming a solution. A couple of examples are the salt that yes dissolve (or dissolves) in thewaterfall or the pink food coloring in the’denatured alcohol. In the case of the “miracle” of San Gennaro, there is no solvent that is dissolving the solid blood, but we have the transformation from solid to liquid: we must therefore speak of “fusion”.
The “fusion”, in fact, is a phenomenon which concerns the ride of state of a substance from solid to liquid when it reaches a certain point temperaturecalled point of fusion. A common example is ice which turns into water when the temperature exceeds 0 °C. In the case of the blood of San Gennaro, what we observe is more similar to a process of fusion: the solid blood contained in the case passes to the state liquid without the use of a solvent. The exact dynamics of the alleged “miracle” are not entirely clear, but in scientific terms it is more like a change of state, not a dissolution or melting.
Obviously in the language common it is fine to say “the blood has melted”. We just wanted to point out that from a technical-scientific point of view it is not correct. In any case, in order to understand what happens in the detail from a chemical point of view inside the display caseit would be necessary to go to withdraw a sample of “blood of San Gennaro” and analyze it to understand it composition. At that point it would be possible to study and understand what is really happening. However, since taking a sample is impossible, the technical explanation of the phenomenon cannot be given with certainty, but only through hypothesis.
