Enthalpy of Water condensation

[Guadalupe_Diaz_Garcia_1L]

Can someone please clarify, why it is that steam can cause more severe burns rather than boiling water? Is it simply because water has a very high enthalpy of its condensation? And then to cool down the change would be more extreme?

[Tatum Pearlman 2D]

Steam causes more severe burns than boiling water because of waters heat curve! When boiling water lands on someones cool skin, the heat of the water will transfer to the skin and burn the skin. However, if hot water vapor comes in contact with the skin, it first has to condense into boiling water, which transfers heat to the skin because of the phase change (as seen on waters heating curve), and then once it is condensed into boiling water it transfers further heat onto the skin. Therefore, theres more heat being transferred to the skin when water vapor hits it, which results in more severe burns.

[Victor Yao 1G]

Adding to the fact that the steam must first condense into a liquid and thus transfers more heat when doing that, there is also a large amount of energy that is needed to change water from a liquid to a gas. This large amount of energy applies in the reverse direction as well, and so a lot of energy, and therefore heat, will be released when steam becomes liquid again, thus causing severe burns.

[Sydney Nguyen 1K]

Hot water and steam both transfer heat to the skin, but steam not only cools but also condenses on the skin. When it condenses, it transfers 4 joules per gram of water; this process is called the “latent heat of condensation.” The extra 4 joules of energy is what delivers the bad burn.

[Samuel Vansomphone 1H]

Steam creates worse burns because of the latent heat of condensation. When making contact with skin, vapor will transfer heat to the skin, condense in a liquid, and transfer even more heat.

[Ashley Chu 3C]

Steam can cause more severe burns because it must phase change from vapor to liquid before the boiling water. The heat from the boiling water is transferred to your skin when boiling water touches your skin. But for steam, the enthalpy of water condensation in addition to the enthalpy of boiling water causes there to be a greater transfer of heat to your skin (greater change in enthalpy).