Phase Change Diagram of Water

[Manu Vohra 1L]

Why does steam at 100^oC burn more than water at 100^oC?

[Heesu_Kim_1F]

Boiling water contains only a specific amount of heat energy required for it to boil. On the other hand, as steam is formed from boiling water, it contains the heat energy of boiling water, along with the heat of vaporization due to phase change. Thus, as steam has more heat energy, it can cause more severe burns than boiling water. Hope this helps!

[Jessica Chen 1F]

The heat of vaporization is a lot larger than the heat of fusion (40 kJ vs 334 J) so when steam condenses back into water, it releases all 40 kJ into the skin, which creates more severe burns.

[Kenan Kherallah 2C]

Because steam has to go through a phase transition while water doesn't as well as the fact that the enthalpy of condensation is very high, so more energy is released

[Nicolette_Canlian_2L]

additional energy is required to change water from its boiling point to steam. Extra heat will cause the boiled water to reach vapor and burn more.

[Raj_Bains_2C]

Steam at 100 C contains more heat than water at 100 C because heat goes into breaking intermolecular bonds.

[Andre_Galenchik_2L]

The best way to understand this is by looking at an energy diagram as water goes from solid to gas. During vaporization, you can see that there is a plateau during 100C as liquid water must convert into water. The energy of water only increases once it gets into the gaseous form.