What is latent heat of vaporisation?
Once water reaches 1000C, the energy supplied is used by the water molecules to break its bonds with other molecules and run away. This energy doesn’t show up as a temperature change as in the case of melting but is used by the molecules to break the bonds and enter a higher energy state i.e. gaseous state. The heat required for a phase change from liquid to gas is referred to as latent heat of vaporization.
The latent heat of vaporization of water is;
Lf =22.6×10^5Jkg−1
Latent Heat of Vaporization is 7.5 times as large as the Latent Heat of fusion i.e. the energy required to melt something is considerably lower than the energy required to vaporize something. This is the reason why a burn caused by steam at 1000C will be a lot more severe than a burn caused by water at 1000C.
Once water reaches 1000C, the energy supplied is used by the water molecules to break its bonds with other molecules and run away. This energy doesn’t show up as a temperature change as in the case of melting but is used by the molecules to break the bonds and enter a higher energy state i.e. gaseous state. The heat required for a phase change from liquid to gas is referred to as latent heat of vaporization.
The latent heat of vaporization of water is;
Lf =22.6×10^5Jkg−1
Latent Heat of Vaporization is 7.5 times as large as the Latent Heat of fusion i.e. the energy required to melt something is considerably lower than the energy required to vaporize something. This is the reason why a burn caused by steam at 1000C will be a lot more severe than a burn caused by water at 1000C.
