Final answer:
It takes a significant amount of thermal energy to change the temperature of water and even more to vaporize it, because water has a high heat capacity and heat of vaporization.
Step-by-step explanation:
In comparison with other liquids, it takes a lot of thermal energy to change the temperature of water or make it vaporize - to change it from a liquid to a gas. This is because water has a high heat capacity and heat of vaporization. The specific heat capacity of water is much higher than many other substances, which means that water can absorb or release a large amount of heat without experiencing a significant change in temperature. This property allows water to play a crucial role in regulating the Earth's climate and helps in maintaining the internal temperature of living organisms.
Regarding phase changes, transitioning from a solid to a liquid or from a liquid to a gas requires substantial amounts of energy. To illustrate, melting a kilogram of ice requires 334 kilojoules (kJ), which is equivalent to the energy needed to raise the temperature of the same amount of liquid water from 0°C to 79.8°C. Evaporating water needs even more energy; about 2256 kJ is necessary to turn 1 kg of water at its boiling point into steam. These processes occur without a change in temperature until the phase change is complete, due to the energy being used to overcome molecular attractions rather than increasing kinetic energy.