In: Physics
Latent means Hidden. Let us take the example of melting of a solid. To do this we will start to heat the solid. The heat energy keeps increasing the kinetic energy of the atoms/molecules of the solid. This is also shown by an increase in the temperature. In fact temperature represents the average kinetic energy of the molecules or atoms of a material. When the solid reaches it's melting point, something else starts to happen. The solid starts to transition into a liquid. We know that the intermolecular spaces in liquid are much more than that in solid. This increase in intermolecular spaces is what happens in the process of melting. There is no change in kinetic energy and hence temperature remains constant. The heat supplied does work by moving the molecules against intermolecular forces which is nothing but increase in potential energy. Hence latent heat changes the potential energy and does not impact kinetic energy. It is called hidden because the only observable parameter which is temeperature does not change and it seems that all the heat went into the material and is hiding inside.