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How much heat must be absorbed to convert 1 pound of saturated NH3 liquid to saturated NH3 gas at SAT conditions?
450 BTU's
561 BTU's
500 BTU's
600 BTU's
The correct answer is: 561 BTU's
To determine how much heat must be absorbed to convert 1 pound of saturated ammonia (NH3) liquid to saturated ammonia gas at saturation conditions, you need to consider the latent heat of vaporization specific to ammonia. At saturation conditions, when ammonia transitions from a liquid to a gas, it requires heat in the form of latent heat. For ammonia, the latent heat of vaporization is approximately 561 BTUs per pound. This value represents the amount of energy needed to break intermolecular bonds in the liquid phase so that ammonia can escape into the gaseous phase without a change in temperature. When the process occurs at saturation conditions, the temperature remains constant, and all the absorbed heat goes into changing the state of the ammonia rather than increasing its temperature. Therefore, for every pound of saturated NH3 liquid that you want to convert to saturated gas, 561 BTUs of heat must be absorbed. This understanding highlights the importance of latent heat in refrigeration cycles, where such phase changes are fundamental to the process. Knowing the value for ammonia specifically equips you to calculate energy requirements in various refrigeration scenarios involving this refrigerant.