Latent Heat and Specific Latent Heat

Vocabulary flashcards covering the concepts of latent heat, specific latent heat of fusion, specific latent heat of vaporization, and their units from the physics lecture notes.

Latent heat

Heat energy given to a substance that changes its state without increasing its temperature.

Latent heat of fusion

The quantity of energy needed to change a solid to a liquid without any change in temperature.

Latent heat of vaporization

The amount of energy needed to change a liquid to gases (vapor) or steam at constant temperature.

Specific latent heat

The quantity of heat required to change a unit mass of a substance from one state to another without a change in its temperature.

Specific latent heat of fusion ($L_f$)

The quantity of heat required to change a unit mass of a solid to liquid without a change in its temperature.

Specific latent heat of vaporization ($L_v$)

The quantity of heat required to convert a unit mass of liquid to vapor (gaseous state) without any change in temperature.

SI unit of specific latent heat

$J\text{ }kg^{-1}$ (or $J/kg$).

Specific latent heat of vaporization of water

$$2.26 \times 10^6\text{ }J/kg$$