Question

When water evaporates, the energy that was used to evaporate the water is stored as _______ in the evaporated water.

1) sensible heat
2) advection
3) conduction
4) latent heat

Answer 1

The energy used to evaporate water is stored as latent heat in the evaporated water, which has the highest latent heat of evaporation among liquids and plays a key role in cooling mechanisms such as sweating.

Step-by-step explanation:

When water evaporates, the energy that was used to evaporate the water is stored as latent heat in the evaporated water. This is because evaporation is a process that requires a significant amount of energy to break the bonds between water molecules, allowing them to transition from a liquid to a gas state. The latent heat of evaporation is especially relevant as water has the highest such heat among all liquids. This high latent heat capacity of water makes it very effective at cooling when it evaporates, for instance, during perspiration. Because of this, the human body can cool efficiently through the process of sweating, even more so in low humidity environments where more sweat is able to evaporate.