Contrived Physics Photo: "Metal Meltdown"
This contrived photo shows the physics concept of changing of phase, specifically fusion. Fusion is the liquefying of a solid through the use of heat. When the melting point for the piece of steel was reached, it began to grow hotter and slowly melt. The heat of fusion for an entire substance is the product of the mass and the heat of fusion. For steel, 25.5 kJ is the heat per kilogram of steel that is required to start melting the substance. The source of heat that allowed the steel to melt was the electricity conducted by the welding electrode shown. In my photo, the beginning of the liquefying process is depicted. Although blocked by a white light caused by such a high heat concentration, the block of steel was already starting to form a puddle of liquid where the process of fusion had already been completed on the top of the block of steel. If the photo were taken a few minutes later, the steel would have eventually melted completely. The picture that I took represents the changing of phase from solid to liquid by heating a piece of steel to its melting point.
