In an ideal situation, the refrigerating effect of a refrigerant is equal to which of the following?

In the context of refrigeration, the refrigerating effect is primarily associated with the heat absorbed as a refrigerant changes phase from a liquid to a vapor. This process occurs during the refrigerant's evaporation at low pressure inside the evaporator coil of a refrigeration system. The specific energy associated with this phase change is referred to as the latent heat of vaporization.

When a refrigerant evaporates, it requires energy to overcome the intermolecular forces holding the liquid together, which is quantified as the latent heat of vaporization. This energy absorbed from the surrounding environment results in the cooling effect that is the goal of refrigeration. Therefore, in an ideal refrigeration cycle, the refrigerating effect can be defined in terms of the specific heat of vaporization of the refrigerant since this is the energy that enables the removal of heat from the space being cooled.

Other options such as latent heat of fusion, thermal conductivity, and boiling point do not directly relate to the refrigerating effect in the same way. The latent heat of fusion pertains to the phase change from solid to liquid, thermal conductivity relates to how well a material can transfer heat, and boiling point indicates the temperature at which a substance transitions from liquid to gas but does not represent the energy associated with that phase change.