sulamislämmön

Sulamislämpö, also known as latent heat of fusion, is the amount of heat energy required to change one unit of mass of a substance from a solid to a liquid at its melting point. This process occurs at a constant temperature, meaning the added energy does not increase the temperature but instead breaks the bonds holding the substance in its solid state. Conversely, the same amount of heat is released when a substance freezes from a liquid to a solid at its freezing point, which is the same temperature as its melting point.

The value of the sulamislämpö is specific to each substance. For example, water has a relatively high sulamislämpö of approximately 334 joules per gram. This means that 334 joules of energy are needed to melt one gram of ice at 0 degrees Celsius into liquid water at 0 degrees Celsius. Similarly, 334 joules of energy are released when one gram of water at 0 degrees Celsius freezes into ice at 0 degrees Celsius. This property is crucial in many natural phenomena, such as the regulation of Earth's temperature by melting ice and snow. Understanding sulamislämpö is fundamental in thermodynamics and has applications in various fields, including engineering, meteorology, and materials science.