Answer to Question #153073 in Organic Chemistry for jiaxin duan

Question

When there is going to be a frost in Florida, farmers will spray their crops with water
before the frost hits thereby preventing the fruit from freezing. Using concepts from
this unit, explain why this helps to save the fruit.

Answer 1

When there is going to be a frost in Florida, farmers will spray their crops with water

before the frost hits thereby preventing the fruit from freezing. This is because, when the temperature drops, the water that is sprayed freezes and releases energy in the form of latent heat. This heat raises the temperature of the environment of the tree, some of which is the still-ripening fruits. Also, the ice which already builds up on the plant will reserve that energy from the colder surrounding air temperatures. In this way, spraying of liquid water on plants does prevent the fruits from freezing and this helps to save the fruit.