Latent heat of a body is the amount of heat required to change the state of a unit mass of the body from solid to liquid or from liquid to gas without any change in temperature.
If latent heat is given off, then the body in the liquid state will transform into a solid state and the body in the vapor state will transform into a liquid state. This means the internal energy of the matter decreases when latent heat is given off.
Latent heat is related to a heat property called enthalpy. The temperature of any substance remains constant during the change of state due to the heat energy provided is used up in changing the state of matter and also this heat is used for breaking several bonds or attractive forces.
Step2: Specific latent heat
Latent heat released or absorbed per unit mass is the specific latent heat
When a body undergoes a steady temperature process, specific latent heat is defined as the amount of heated vitality (heat, ) that is consumed or discharged.
It is defined as the amount of heat energy, denoted by , required to totally influence a phase transition of a unit of mass (), typically 1 kg of a substance as an intense attribute.