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Is the Term Latent Heat a Misconception?
Stuttgart, Germany
- 1 Stuttgart, Germany
Advances in Historical Studies·Volume 11 (2022)·Pages 57–64·Published 28 April 2022·DOI10.4236/ahs.2022.112006
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Abstract
The term latent heat was coined by Joseph Black in 1762. The well-known scientist-engineer, James Watt, precisely determined its value of water by experiments 250 ago, with an accuracy that is comparable to our modern experiments. However, Rudolf Clausius, one of the founders of modern thermo dynamics, stated in 1850 that this quantity not only is hidden (latent) but does even not exist. In this paper, we present Black’s model of latent heat, describe Watt’s experiments and shed some light on the motivation behind Clausius’s statement.
KeywordsPhase TransitionLatent HeatEnergy ConversionJoseph BackJames WattRudolph Clausius
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