What is Latent Heat of Fusion?

Latent Heat of Fusion can be interpreted as the energy that is required for the phase transition between solid and liquid phases. Suppose we have 1 Kg of Butter (cold and solid) and we want liquid butter. So, we need some energy which can be used in the process of liquidation of butter. That required energy here is the Latent heat of Fusion.

Latent Heat of Fusion Definition

Latent heat of fusion is defined as the amount of heat received by a solid body to transform it into a liquid without raising the temperature of the substance.

For example, we have 5kg of ice at 0°C 

SI Unit of Latent Heat of Fusion

The SI unit of latent heat of fusion is joules per kilogram (J/kg). Other units of latent heat of fusion are calorie/kilogram, joule/gram, calorie/gram, erg/gram, kilojoule/kilogram, etc. For example, the latent heat of fusion for water in the form of ice is 334 J/kg. This means that it takes 334 J of heat to melt 1 kg of ice at 0 degrees Celsius.

Note: Dimensional formula for the latent heat of fusion is given by [M⁰L²T⁻²].

Latent Heat of Fusion is one of the latent heats in chemistry like the latent heat of vaporization and latent heat of sublimation. When a substance is changing its phase from liquid to solid or solid to the gas of gas to a liquid, this latent heat comes in handy to find the energy of the reaction. Latent Heat of Fusion is related to the solid-to-liquid phase change. In this article, we will explore all the topics related to the latent heat of fusion and its formula. We’ll also learn about the latent heat of fusion for various different elements as well as compounds. 

Let’s start our learning about the concept with the name “Latent Heat of Fusion”.