They also measured the latent heat released over land as the water vapor turned
back into liquid water and fell as rain.
When a thaw begins, some of the snow
turns into liquid water, which, ironically, is one of the darkest of substances.
Dr. Jerison studies systems governed by simple rules that nonetheless exhibit complex behaviors, such as phase transitions — for instance, when a slight temperature increase causes ice to
melt into liquid water; and threshold phenomena — for instance, when a small extra deposit of soil causes a stable slope to topple over into a landslide.
Not as much latent heat as is released by condensation of water
vapor into liquid water at the same temperature but still a lot.
The scientists think hydrogen peroxide is an important factor for the habitability of the global liquid water ocean under Europa's icy crust because hydrogen peroxide decays to oxygen when
mixed into liquid water.
If the craft were to crash on the surface of a cold moon like Enceladus, the RTGs could easily thaw a path through tens of kilometers of ice, and plop down
into the liquid water ocean beneath, though this might take a long time.
It takes 8.5 times as much energy to convert a kilogram of ice into water vapor by sublimation as it does to convert the same
kilogram into liquid water by melting.
In the absence of such aerosols, the spontaneous conversion of water
vapour into liquid water or ice crystals requires conditions with relative humidities much greater than 100 percent, with respect to a flat surface of H2O.
Any breeding animal — the only reason animals visit Antarctica — interested in warming up will
dive into liquid water, which isalways warmer than the ambient continental air.
Without heat, the water molecules inside the bottle start condensing — that is, they start turning from steam back
into liquid water.