Subject Code PHY 3 PHYSICS 3

Module Code 4.0 Consequences of Heat Transfer

Lesson ​Code 4.2 Phase Change
Time Frame 45 minutes

1 2
TA ATA
Components Tasks
(min) (min)
Target 1
By the end of this learning guide, the student should be able
to:
● explain the conditions necessary to change the phase of
matter;
● interpret a phase diagram; and
● explain the physical meaning of latent heat.

Hook When cooking pasta, the packaging most often says “Boil the 1
pasta in water for ten minutes.” In order to cook this pasta using
the least possible amount of energy,
should you
(a) turn up the burner to its fullest so the
water vigorously boils or
(b) turn down the burner so the water
barely boils?
(Cutnell, 2012)
Ignite Heat of Transformation 19
When a material absorbs heat, that material’s temperature may
increase further. At times, its temperature may not change, but it’s
physical ​state​ changes (e.g. liquid to gas, ice melting to liquid
water).

Figure 1​. ​Three familiar phases of matter—solid, liquid, and gas—and the
phase changes that can occur between any two of them. (​Cutnell, 2012)

1
Time allocation suggested by the teacher.
2
Actual time allocation spent by the student (for information purposes only).

Physics 3 Phase Change Page 1 of 7

 When a material changes its ​phase or ​state,​ there must be an
amount of energy needed to be absorbed for this to happen. In
fact, there is, and it varies from one material to the other. This
amount of energy per unit mass needed for a sample to
completely undergo phase change is called the ​heat of
transformation​, ​L​. Then, the total amount of energy needed by
a given mass of a sample to undergo total phase change is

Q = mL .​ ​[eqn 1 ]

The value of ​L varies depending on the material and the type of

phase change the material undergoes. ​Heat of vaporization​, ​L​v,​
is the heat of transformation when a sample changes from
liquid to gas. This is often much greater compared to the ​heat
of fusion​, ​Lf​ ,​ which is the heat of transformation when the
phase change is from solid to liquid. Melting entails heat
absorption, while freezing means heat is removed from the
system. Likewise, vaporization means the system absorbs heat,
while condensation means that heat is taken out of the system.

Table 1​. Some Heats of Transformation ​(Halliday, 2014)

Melting Boiling
Heat of Heat of
Substanc Boiling
Melting Fusion, Vaporizatio
e Point
Point (K) Lf n, Lv
(K)
(kJ/kg) (kJ/kg)
Hydrogen 14.0 58.0 20.3 455
Oxygen 54.8 13.9 90.2 213
Mercury 234 11.4 630 296
Water 273 333 373 2256
Lead 601 23.2 2017 858
Silver 1235 105 2323 2336
Copper 1356 207 2868 4730

You may have wondered why the symbol is ​L for the heat of
transformation. This ​L stands for latent heat (literally meaning
“hidden” heat) because this added or removed energy does not
result in a temperature change​. Figure 2 shows the energy
needed of a given substance with time and temperature. The
red lines indicated with “phase change”, shows the latent heat
at those stages.

In order for a substance to change its phase upon the transfer of

heat, it must acquire enough energy to overcome its latent heat.

Physics 3 Phase Change Page 2 of 7

 Figure 2. ​Temperature changes with time. Phase changes are
indicated by flat regions where heat energy used to overcome
attractive forces between molecules​ (​Splung.com, 2020​)

In the following example, there is a need to recall the equation for

heat transferred during temperature change: Q = mc∆T . ​The
following example shows the heat requirement to change
temperature and state.

Example 1.​
Heat to change temperature and state
(a) How much heat is required to melt ice of mass ​m ​= 720 g at
T= -10 o​​ C to bring it to liquid state at 15 o​​ C?

Solution
There are three steps to accomplish this state.
(1) The temperature of the ice must be increased from -10​o​C
to 0​o​C before it melts. The amount of heat needed to do
this is

( )
Q1 = mc∆T = (0.720 kg) 2220 kgJK (0o C − (− 10) C) = 15.984 kJ
o

(2) At 0​o​C, the ice starts to melt to liquid water but maintains
this temperature. The amount of heat needed to melt the
ice is
(
Q2 = mLf = (0.720 kg) 333 kJ )
kg = 239.8 kJ

(3) Further absorption of heat will then increase the

temperature of melted water from 0​o​C to 15​o​C. The
amount of heat needed to do this is
( )
Q3 = mc∆T = (0.720 kg) 4186.8 kgJ K (15o C − 0o C) = 45.22 kJ

We then sum all the heat needed by the ice to undergo all those
changes.

Qtot = Q1 + Q2 + Q3 = 300 kJ

Physics 3 Phase Change Page 3 of 7

 Note that melting the ice needed the most amount of energy
than changing the temperature of both ice and liquid water.
(Halliday and Resnick, 2014)

Phase Diagram
The state of a sample of matter is not only determined by
temperature, but also by pressure. For example, water may be
liquid at 10​o​C at standard atmospheric pressure, but triple the
pressure, this same liquid water becomes solid at the same
temperature.

A phase diagram (figure 3) illustrates the physical state of a

substance in a closed system for varying temperature and
pressure combinations wherein the phase of the substance is
stable. A typical phase diagram consists of regions describing
the state of the substance, the triple point, and the critical point.

Figure 3​. ​A typical phase diagram for a substance. (​chem.libretexts.org)​

● High pressure and low temperature combinations

(upper left of figure 3) often leads to a solid phase.
● The gas phase often occurs at high temperature and
low pressure (lower right of figure 3).
● Supercritical fluid (upper right of figure 3) happens at
a combination of high temperature and pressure.
● The triple point is located at A. The triple point of a
substance is the temperature and pressure at which gas,
liquid, and solid phases coexist in thermodynamic
equilibrium. For example for water, the triple point is
at 0.010000 o​​ C and 0.0060373 atm. In these
conditions, water can boil and freeze at the same time.
● The critical point is at B. Pressure and temperature
above which makes the substance a supercritical fluid.
● Transformations are indicated with arrows.

Physics 3 Phase Change Page 4 of 7

 Example 2.​
Phase diagram of a substance

Figure 4 shows a phase diagram of a given substance.

Figure 4​. Exercise phase diagram.

(​sciencegeek.net​)

For a, b, and c, choose among the 6 transformation processes:

melting, freezing, vaporization, condensation, sublimation,
deposition.

What is the phase change from Phase

A. C to B?
B. C to A?
C. A to B?
D. The triple point of this substance occurs at what
temperature and pressure?
E. At 30 atmospheres pressure, what is the boiling point of
this substance?

Answers
A. melting
B. sublimation
C. condensation
D. -15 o​​ C, 6 atm
E. -50 o​​ C

Physics 3 Phase Change Page 5 of 7

 Navigate Answer the following questions on a sheet of paper. Please 19
consult your teacher on guidelines of submission. All items
will be graded.

1. (Level 1&2) If we supply the ice with a total energy of

only 210 kJ (as heat), what is the final temperature of the
water? What mass of ice remains? ​(Halliday and Resnick,
2014)

Figure 5​. Phase diagram of water. (​chem.libretexts.org​)

2. (Level 1&2) ​Referring to the phase diagram of water in

Figure 5,
a. Predict the physical form of a sample of water at 400
°C and 150 atm.
b. Describe the changes that occur as the sample in part
(a) is slowly allowed to cool to −50 °C at a constant
pressure of 150 atm. ​(chem.libretexts.org)

Knot There are three common states of matter: solid, liquid, and 5
vapor. Heat absorbed by a material may change the material’s
physical state. The ​heat of transformation, ​L, is the amount
of energy per unit mass needed to change the ​phase​, or ​state​,
of matter.

A phase diagram is a graphic summary of the physical state of

a substance as a function of temperature and pressure in a
closed system.

References:
1. Cutnell, John D. and Johnson, Kenneth W. (2012). ​Physics 9th ed.​ United States of America:
John Wiley & Sons, Inc.
2. Halliday, D., Resnick, R., & Walker, J. (2014). ​Halliday and Resnick Fundamentals of
physics.​ Hoboken: Wiley.
3. Serway, R. A., & Jewett, J. W. (2014). ​Physics for scientists and engineers with modern
physics.​ Pacific Grove, CA: Brooks/Cole.

Physics 3 Phase Change Page 6 of 7

 4. Young, H. D., Freedman, R. A., & Ford, A. L. (2016). ​Sears and Zemansky’s University
physics: with modern physics.​ Harlow: Pearson.
5. https://chem.libretexts.org/Courses/University_of_Missouri/MU%3A__1330H_(Keller)/11%
3A_Liquids_and_Intermolecular_Forces/11.6%3A_Phase_Diagrams
6. http://www.splung.com/content/sid/6/page/latentheat
7. https://www.sciencegeek.net/APchemistry/APtaters/PhaseDiagrams.htm

Physics 3 Phase Change Page 7 of 7