latent heat
heat absorbed or radiated during a change of phase at constant temperature and pressure.
Origin of latent heat
1- Compare heat of fusion, heat of vaporization.
Words Nearby latent heat
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2024
How to use latent heat in a sentence
Green spaces and cool colors in a city turn more sensible heat into latent heat, Martilli and his colleagues find.
Explainer: Urban heat islands and how to cool them | Bethany Brookshire | August 19, 2021 | Science News For StudentsPlants trap sensible heat and turn it into latent heat — the energy that turns liquid water into water vapor.
Explainer: Urban heat islands and how to cool them | Bethany Brookshire | August 19, 2021 | Science News For StudentsThat high-pressure engines owed their advantages mainly to a reduction of the relative importance of this latent heat.
Life of Richard Trevithick, Volume II (of 2) | Francis TrevithickIn descending it is recondensed, and by the process by which its atoms are brought together its latent heat is made sensible.
Outlines of the Earth's History | Nathaniel Southgate ShalerDr. Blacks discovery of latent heat, however, has afforded a very easy and natural explication of this phenomenon.
The Book of Curiosities | I. Platts
Cavendish knew of the suggestion, but in his experiments refuted the idea that the hydrogen lost any of its latent heat.
A History of Science, Volume 4(of 5) | Henry Smith WilliamsBecause of the liberation of the latent heat from the precipitated vapour.
British Dictionary definitions for latent heat
(no longer in technical usage) the heat evolved or absorbed by unit mass (specific latent heat) or unit amount of substance (molar latent heat) when it changes phase without change of temperature
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012
Scientific definitions for latent heat
[ lāt′nt ]
The quantity of heat absorbed or released by a substance undergoing a change of state, such as ice changing to liquid water or liquid water changing to ice, at constant temperature and pressure. The latent heat absorbed by air when water vapor condenses is ultimately the source of the power of thunderstorms and hurricanes. See also heat capacity.
The American Heritage® Science Dictionary Copyright © 2011. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.
Cultural definitions for latent heat
The heat released or absorbed when matter undergoes a change of phase (see phases of matter). If the heat is given off during the change from a liquid to a solid, it is called heat of fusion. If it is given off during the change from a gas to a liquid, it is called heat of vaporization.
The New Dictionary of Cultural Literacy, Third Edition Copyright © 2005 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.
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