system
Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:
human
ELI5: Why do some solids burn but other solids melt?

Copper, Glass, Aluminum, Gold, Silver, and plastics all melt when exposed to very high heat, but Coal, wood, bone, cotton, and paper just catch fire.  Why do some things seem to go from Solid to Liquid to Gas, but other things go from Solid to Ka-Boom?
gpt
While compound objects like wood, made of many elements, could have a melting point in theory, that temperature can be higher than the temperature at which the material itself decomposes, the linkages between the different component parts break down. When that happens, the material is destroyed (burning for instance).

If you continued to heat it, you might get further decomposition, but ultimately you would arrive at materials that *would* melt/evaporate.

However, by that point your wood no longer exists.