The specific latent heat of vaporisation is the energy needed to evaporate 1kg of water without a change in temperature.The small size of the water molecule means that water would be a gas at room temperature if not for the hydrogen bonding between the water molecules making the boiling point higher than expected.Water has a high latent heat of vaporisation which makes it ideal as a coolant.Sweating in mammals cools the body as the heat is used to evaporate water. The high latent heat means that a relatively small quantity of water can be used to effectively cool the body.
Latent heat of Vaporisation of Water
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Specification: AQA Biology (7401), AS-level, 3.1.7 Water. Topic: Nucleic Acids.
Key terms in this lesson
- hydrogen bond
- A weak electrostatic attraction between a slightly positive hydrogen atom on one polar molecule and a slightly negative atom, such as oxygen or nitrogen, on another.
More in Nucleic Acids
- ATP
- ATP Synthesis
- Roles of ATP
- Water and Hydrogen Bonding
- Specific Heat Capacity of Water
- Cohesion and Surface Tension of Water
- The Importance of Water
- Inorganic Ions
All 18 lessons in Nucleic Acids · All AQA AS-level Biology topics