MadSci Network: Chemistry |
If you have ice at 0 C, you need to add heat to melt it to water at 0 C. Conversely, if you have water at 0 C, you need to remove heat to freeze it. So, even though ice and water can both be at 0 C, water contains more energy. If you want to get quantitative about it, water has a "molar heat of fusion" of 1.436 kcal/mole. Translated, that mean that it takes about 1 1/2 Calories (a food Calorie is a chemist’s kcal or kilocalorie) to melt 18 grams of ice (a bit more than half an ounce). You can learn more about the relationships between energy and melting/ freezing by consulting any high school or college general chemistry text book.
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