History
The English word latent comes from Latin latēns, meaning lying hid. The term latent heat was introduced into calorimetry around 1750 by Joseph Black when studying system changes, such as of volume and pressure, when the thermodynamic system was held at constant temperature in a thermal bath. James Prescott Joule characterized latent energy as the energy of interaction in a given configuration of particles, i.e. a form of potential energy, and the sensible heat as an energy that was indicated by the thermometer, relating the latter to thermal energy.
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