Question

What do you understand by the term latent heat ?

Answer 1

The word 'latent' means hidden. The characteristic amount of energy absorbed or released by a substance during a change in its physical state that occurs without changing its temperature is known as latent heat.

The two types of latent heat are the Latent heat of fusion and latent heat of vaporization.

Latent heat of fusion: Latent heat of fusion is the amount of heat energy required to change 1 kg of a solid into liquid at atmospheric pressure at its melting point.

Latent heat of vaporization: Latent heat of vaporization is the amount of heat energy required to change 1 kg of liquid into a gas at atmospheric pressure at the boiling point.