Latent Heat

When a substance changes phase, that is it goes from either a solid to a liquid or liquid to gas, the
energy, it requires energy to do so. The potential energy stored in the interatomics forces between
molecules needs to be overcome by the kinetic energy the motion of the particles before the
substance can change phase.
If we measure the temperature of the substance which is initially solid as we heat it we produce a
graph like Figure 1.

Figure 1. Temperature change with time. Phase changes are indicated by flat regions where heat
energy used to overcome attractive forces between molecules
Starting a point A, the substance is in its solid phase, heating it brings the temperature up to its
melting point but the material is still a solid at point B. As it is heated further, the energy from the
heat source goes into breaking the bonds holding the atoms in place. This takes place from B to
C. At point C all of the solid phase has been transformed into the liquid phase. Once again, as
energy is added the energy goes into the kinetic energy of the particles raising the temperature,
(C to D). At point D the temperature has reached its boiling point but it is still in the liquid phase.
From points D to E thermal energy is overcoming the bonds and the particles have enough
kinetic energy to escape from the liquid. The substance is entering the gas phase. Beyond E,
further heating under pressure can raise the temperature still further is how a pressure cooker
works.

Latent Heat of Fusion and Vaporisation

The energy required to change the phase of a substance is known as a latent heat. The word
latent means hidden. When the phase change is from solid to liquid we must use the latent heat
of fusion, and when the phase change is from liquid to a gas, we must use the latent heat of
vaporisation.
The energy require is Q= m L, where m is the mass of the substance and L is the specific latent
heat of fusion or vaporisation which measures the heat energy to change 1 kg of a solid into a
liquid.
Table 1. show the
Specific latent heat of fusion
kJ.kg-1
Water
334
Ethanol
109
Ethanoic acid 192
Chloroform 74
Mercury
11
Sulphur
54
Hydrogen
60
Oxygen
14
Nitrogen
25
Substance

C
0
-114
17
-64
-39
115
-259
-219
-210

Specific latent heat of vaporisation

kJ.kg-1
2258
838
395
254
294
1406
449
213
199

C
100
78
118
62
357
445
-253
-183
-196

Heat Pipes
As the density of transitors in a microprocessor increases, the amount of heat disipated increases.
A Pentium 4 processor (180 nm running at 2GHz) disipates, 55 Watts of power as heat. Its area is
just 131 mm2. This gives a 55 W/(131/(102)) = 42 W cm-2. In comparison a steam iron is 5 Wcm2
.
One solution is the heat pipe. As its name suggests, it transfers heat from high temperature
regions to lower temperature regions where there is more space for heat sinks or cooling fans.

Figure 2. Inside a heatpipe.

Although it just looks like a sealed metal pipe, there is a wick or porous material and a liquid
with a high latent heat of vaporisation. When the pipe is heated the liquid uses the heat to
evaporate and changes into a gas, the gas moves to a colder region of the heat pipe where is
condenses and uses the latent heat to change back into a liquid. Heat pipes are a reliable and cost
effective solution for laptop computers where fans would reduce battery life.