PHYSICS
JUNIOR HIGH 2
Academic Year 2021/2022
TERM I
NOTE 4
Latent Heat and Specific Latent Heat
Latent heat
1. Latent heat of a substance is the amount of energy absorbed or released by the substance during a change
in its physical state that occurs without changing its temperature.
2. The latent heat associated with melting a solid or freezing a liquid is called the latent heat of fusion (L f),
that associated with vapourising a liquid or a solid or condensing a vapour is called the latent heat of
vaporisation (Lv).
Specific Latent Heat of Fusion
1. Specific latent heat of fusion, lf, of a substance is defined as the amount of heat required to melt unit
mass of the solid to liquid without a temperature change.
2. SI unit of specific latent heat of fusion is joule per kilogram (J kg-1).
3. The specific latent heat of fusion of ice at 0oC, for example is 336 kJ kg-1. This means that to convert 1
kg of ice at 0oC to 1 kg of water at 0oC, 336 kJ of heat must be absorbed by the ice. Conversely, when 1
kg of water at 0oC freezes to give 1 kg of ice at 0oC, 336 kJ of heat will be released to the surroundings.
4. With the specific latent heat of fusion, we can find out the amount of energy needed to melt a solid at its
melting point by the following equation:
E = L f = m x lf
Where E = energy (J), Lf = latent heat of fusion (J), m = mass (kg)
5. The specific latent heat of fusion is much greater than the specific heat capacity as more energy is
needed to break the strong forces between molecules. For example, specific latent heat of fusion of ice =
336 kJ kg-1 and specific heat capacity of ice = 2.1 kJ kg-1oC-1.
Specific Latent Heat of Vapourisation
1. Specific latent heat of vapourisation, lv of a substance is defined as the amount of heat required to vapour
unit mass of the liquid to gas without a temperature change.
2. SI unit of specific latent heat of vapourisation is joule per kilogram (J kg-1).
3. The specific latent heat of vapourisation of water at 100oC, for example, is 2268 kJ kg-1. This means that
to convert 1 kg of water at 100oC to 1 kg of steam at 100oC, 2268 kJ of heat must be absorbed by the
water. Conversely, when 1 kg of steam at 100oC condenses to give 1 kg of water at 100oC, 2268 kJ of
heat will be released to the surroundings.
4. With the specific latent heat of vapourisation, we can find out the amount of energy needed to boil a
liquid at its boiling point by the following equation:
E = L v = m x lv
Where E = energy (J), Lv = latent heat of vaporisation (J), m = mass (kg)
1
Molecular Interpretation of Latent Heat
1. Latent heat of fusion (Lf)
a. In melting, the regular structure of the solid is broken down.
b. Energy has to be supplied to the molecules to overcome the attractive forces that keep them in their
fixed positions.
c. Latent heat of fusion represents the work done in separating the molecules during melting.
d. This work done in breaking down the structure is converted to potential energy of the molecules as
they move apart.
e. The average kinetic energy of the molecules remains unchanged hence temperature is constant
during melting.
2. Latent heat of vaporisation (Lv)
a. Latent heat of vaporisation represents the work done in forcing the molecules to be sufficiently far
apart for the attraction forces between them to be almost zero.
b. Gas molecules are free to travel at random through any space available to them and their potential
energy is greatly increased.
c. When a gas changes back into a liquid, the molecules are pulled close together again by the forces of
attraction between them, and the potential energy lost is released as heat. Steam gives out latent heat
when it condenses to form water, which is why a scald from steam is much worse than one from
boiling water.
Note:
The specific latent heat of vaporisation is much bigger than the specific latent heat of fusion for the same
substance, as much more energy is needed to pull the molecules in the liquid state far apart into gas phase
than changing them from solid to liquid phase.
