Question

The snow on the mountains does not melt all at once when it is heated by the sun because

• A. It becomes hard
• B. It reflect most of the heat from the sun
• C. It has a low specific heat capacity
• D. It has a high latent heat of fusion

Answer 1

Answer:

D. It has a high latent heat of fusion

Latent Heat:

• The heat required for a unit mass of a substance to change its state at constant temperature is called the latent heat of the body.

• The heat received from the sun increases the temperature of the snow from negative to zero.

• At zero degrees the snow changes from solid to the liquid state and the energy required for this change is called latent heat.

Latent heat of fusion = mL_f

Where,

• Lf = latent heat

• m = mass

• Since there is a very large amount of snow present on mountains, hence the mass is very huge.

• Since the mass present in mountains is very huge, so will be the latent heat of fusion.

• And this huge amount of heat can't be delivered by the sun at once.

Therefore the ice doesn’t melt all at once. Hence, the snow on mountains does not melt all at once, when heated by the sun.