Scribd
Upload
511 views3 pages

The Heating Curve of Water

The heating curve of water shows temperature rising linearly as heat is added to ice until it reaches 0°C. At 0°C, temperature stops rising as heat is used for the phase transition from ice to liquid water. Between 0-100°C, temperature rises linearly again as heat is added to liquid water. At 100°C, temperature stops rising again as heat is used for the phase transition from liquid to steam. Above 100°C, temperature rises linearly with added heat to steam. Water has these unique heating properties due to its hydrogen bonding and polarity.

Uploaded by

Dimpho Masetedi
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
511 views3 pages

The Heating Curve of Water

The heating curve of water shows temperature rising linearly as heat is added to ice until it reaches 0°C. At 0°C, temperature stops rising as heat is used for the phase transition from ice to liquid water. Between 0-100°C, temperature rises linearly again as heat is added to liquid water. At 100°C, temperature stops rising again as heat is used for the phase transition from liquid to steam. Above 100°C, temperature rises linearly with added heat to steam. Water has these unique heating properties due to its hydrogen bonding and polarity.

Uploaded by

Dimpho Masetedi
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
You are on page 1/ 3

THE HEATING CURVE OF WATER

Now let's look at a schematic diagram of continuous heating of water from a

temperature well below the freezing point to one well above the vaporization point.

Temperature of a sample of water is plotted vs. heat added at a constant rate. This

is an amazing curve and one worth staring at for a while.

Let's trace that curve from left to right across five regions. Note that on the bottom

axis we're just adding heat to the sample at a steady rate, but what is happening to

the temperature is anything but steady.


(1) Heating the solid

As we add heat to ice, its temperature rises. That's no big surprise. It rises at a

linear rate that is governed by the heat capacity of ice, something that can be

looked up in a table.

(2) 0˚C

What happens at 0˚C is really remarkable. We add heat but the temperature does

not increase, even after a substantial amount of heat is added. That's a very strange

result. Imagine if you were the first to discover it. People might not believe you!

What is happening, of course, is that ice is undergoing a phase transition: ice →

liquid. It turns out that this phase transition alone, without rise in temperature,

requires an extra amount of heat that we call the latent heat of fusion, ΔHf.

Mathematically, the heat capacity of water at this temperature (and at 100˚C) is

infinite.

(3) 0˚C - 100˚C Heating the liquid

After the solid melts to liquid, the liquid reflects added heat as a rise in its

temperature. The slope of the rise isn't quite the same as that of the solid because

the heat capacity of water is a little different that that of ice (see table underHeat).
(4) 100˚C

At 100˚C we observe another phase transition: Liquid → gas (steam). Look at the

(relatively speaking) immense amount of heat it takes to convert liquid water to

steam. It's huge. That's why sweating is such an efficient cooling mechanism.

Sweat requires a tremendous amount of heat energy (taken from the body) in order

to evaporate into the gas phase. We call this extra energy the latent heat of

vaporization, ΔHv.

(5) > 100˚C Heating steam

Finally, we can heat steam almost arbitrarily. Again, the rise in temperature has a

slope that is determined by the heat capacity of steam, which is quite different from

those of liquid water and ice. At some very high temperature, of course, the O—H

bonds of water will break and there won't be any more water, just H and O.

Because water has nine degrees of freedom of movement, it has a high heat

capacity for a triatomic molecule.

Because water is polar and forms hydrogen bonds, it has large latent heats of

fusion and vaporization, and its solid form is less dense than its liquid form.

Source: http://www.drcruzan.com/Water.html

You might also like