The latent heat of vaporization of ethanol is 200 calories/gram. This means that _____.

The latent heat of vaporization of ethanol is 200 calories/gram. This means that about 200 calories of heat must be added to 1 gram of ethanol to convert it form a liquid to a gas.

Pretty general and with no context; however, this may fit.

it requires 200 calories of energy to change the phase of 1 gram of ethanol at its boiling point from liquid to vapor.

But that is if the liquid is at the boiling point of ethanol. If the ethanol is t a temperature lower than the boiling point then more energy is required for every degree < the b.p.

The latent heat of vaporization of ethanol being 200 calories/gram means that it requires 200 calories of heat energy to convert 1 gram of ethanol from its liquid state to its gaseous state without any change in temperature. In other words, it is the amount of energy needed to overcome the intermolecular forces holding the ethanol molecules together in the liquid phase, allowing them to break apart and escape as a gas.