Steam vs Boiling Water

[Jack Van Ryan 1A]

Can someone please explain why steam causes a lot more severe of a burn than boiling water? I'm still a little confused on this.

Thank you!

[Crystal Ros 2L]

Hi!

When the steam hits your skin, it is undergoing a phase change from vapor to liquid. This phase change causes an energy release in the form of heat which is why the steam causes a worse burn than boiling water.

[Anjali Kalagiri 3F]

Hi! This is because steam has more energy than boiling water, because it also has the energy of vaporization. Thus if you get hit by steam, when it condenses on your skin it transfers the energy of the temperature change and phase change. Boiling water would not have the same energy of vaporization, only the energy of the temperature change.

[Ben Zhang 2H]

When you change something from one state of matter to another, you need energy. The energy being added to water when it is being evaporated doesn't increase the temperature of the water but instead is used to break the bonds of the water molecules. As a result, boiling water and steam have about the same temperature. However, steam causes more damage because it has more energy inside of it than boiling water because you need a lot of energy to turn water into steam.

[Nicole Weinstein 3E]

The temperatures of boiling water and steam are essentially the same, but from the chart shown in the lecture, you can see that it requires much more energy for the boiling water to become water vapor than it is for water to just boil. This phase change requires energy, which is what you feel when steam scorches your skin compared to boiling water.

[Hannah Kim 3C]

The phase change from vapor to liquid when touching the surface of our skin is why steam may feel more irritating than boiling water.

[Clayton Dinh 3C]

The phase change from gas to liquid gives off a lot more energy along with the boiling liquid left over.

[Ananya Sridharan]

When steam hits the skin there is a phase change from gas to liquid which release more heat.

[Misha_Khan_2H]

Steam burns more than water because it has more energy than water. Steam has undergone a phase change where it gains energy of vaporisation. So even though steam and water can have the same temperature, steam has more energy so can cause more damage.

[HemangD 3K]

Much more heat is required to reach the state of vapor than to reach the state of boiling water. Hence, when in contact with skin, steam releases much more energy than boiling water, causing a more severe burn.

[Caitlin_Doak_2H]

Steam is a temperature change and a phase change where as water is just a temperature change

[Anubhav_Chandla1G]

In simple terms, the phase change from liquid to vapor requires much higher energy, leading to steam burning skin a lot more severely when compared to a boiling water burn.

[Anubhav_Chandla1G]

In simple terms, the phase change from liquid to vapor requires much higher energy, leading to steam burning skin a lot more severely when compared to a boiling water burn.

[Jonathan Liu 2I]

The phase change between vapor to liquid involves a large amount of energy, so when steam touches skin, it becomes a liquid, transferring that large amount of energy onto the skin compounded with the fact that it is 100 degrees celsius.