Heat energy during the change of state between solid and liquid is called what?

• A. Latent Heat of Vaporization
• B. Latent Heat of Fusion
• C. Latent Heat of Condensation
• D. Specific Heat

Answer: (B)

The heat energy involved when a solid changes into a liquid is latent heat of fusion. Latent here means hidden, because the energy goes into breaking the forces that hold the solid together rather than raising the temperature. During melting at the melting point, the temperature stays the same while energy is absorbed to convert solid to liquid. This is different from latent heat of vaporization, which is the energy required to turn a liquid into a gas, or condensation, which is the energy released when a gas becomes liquid. Specific heat is the energy needed to raise the temperature without a phase change. For water, melting requires about 334 kJ per kilogram of ice.