Why does steam cause burns?

[Shanzey]

I know Dr. Lavelle went into quite a bit of depth as to why steam causes burns worse than boiling water, but I am still a bit confused. Why does this occur? In my notes, I wrote that steam has a large enthalpy of condensation: is that the reason why?

[Micah3J]

When steam condenses onto the skin there is a large transfer of energy in the form of heat which causes the skin to burn.

[Angela Wu-2H]

I also believe that, through the diagram that he showed in lecture, steam is hotter than liquid because the temperature was much higher above 100 degrees, meanwhile the liquid for temperature went between 0 degrees and 100 degrees.

[Petrina Kan 2I]

When steam comes into contact with skin, it encounters a phase change to a liquid and immediately releases many more kJ of energy as opposed to just boiling water which does not have to go through a phase change and therefore releases less kJ of energy.

[Viviana Velasquez]

He explained that because steam experiences a phase change when it comes into contact with skin, it releases a big amount of heat and therefore causes severe burns.

[504939134]

Steam burns more because if you look at the diagram he showed us in lecture , it releases a lot more energy to go back down to its liquid phase. The release in energy is much more than if you touched boiling hot water.

[Megan Kirschner]

Would anyone be able to describe the diagram you all are referencing? I was sick and unfortunately missed that lecture :/

[Omar Selim 1D]

Steam causes burns due to the high amount of heat transferred from the steam to skin. It has a large Q and H value.

[kevinolvera1j]

Steam is worse than water even at the same temperature when coming into contact with your skin. This is because the steam has much higher enthalpy than the water, even if they are at the same temperature. Once the steam comes into contact with your skin, it condenses and this phase change releases much more energy than the hot water which only stays a liquid.

[gabbymaraziti]

The steam has much higher enthalpy than the liquid, because more heat is required to achieve a gaseous state. Therefore, when it comes into contact with your skin and quickly condenses, it releases a large amount of heat in comparison to that that would be released by the liquid state.

[rohun2H]

The diagram Lavelle showed in class was the temperature curve of water.

[DHavo_1E]

Would anyone be able to describe the diagram you all are referencing? I was sick and unfortunately missed that lecture :/

Hello,
The diagram looks like this:

https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Water_Phase_Change_Diagram.png

[J_CHEN 4I]

Steam causes burns worst than water because the phase change from liquid to gases requires more energy

[ASetlur_1G]

Steam causes burns due to the high amount of heat transferred from the steam to skin. It has a large Q and H value.

What do the Q and H values refer to?

[Shrayes Raman]

Steam will have to undergo phase change so it releases much more kJ of energy than liquid which doesn't phase change.

[Eva Zhao 4I]

Showing the actual diagram, which is the heating curve of water, you can see that it takes a lot more energy to transition from liquid to vapor than it does from solid to liquid. Therefore, steam carries much more heat for worse burns than boiling water.

[Chantel_2I]

Is there a reason why the horizontal line for vaporizing water is so much longer than the one for melting ice?

[Mitchell Koss 4G]

It takes longer for the bonds to break.

[Leila_4G]

This makes me really scared of steam now!

[alicechien_4F]

Is there a reason why the horizontal line for vaporizing water is so much longer than the one for melting ice?

It takes longer to vaporize water because there is a larger enthalpy, which means more heat has to be applied at a constant rate.

[Areli C 1L]

This makes me really scared of steam now!

Hahah, still does a great job of relaxing the body during the quarter system!

[Maya Beal Dis 1D]

Why is the enthalpy larger? Aren't the same type of bonds being broken?

[Kaylee Clarke 1G]

steam causes burns because there is a phase change of water as it makes contact with your skin, which causes a greater release of energy than boiling water that has a constant energy

[705121606]

Steam causes burns more than water because the change of phase from liquid water to water vapor requires more energy

[Daniel Yu 1E]

Steam causes burns because when it comes into contact with your skin, it'll transfer its energy. It has a lot of energy since water requires lots of energy to undergo the phase change from liquid to gas.

[stephaniekim2K]

Steam has more energy than liquid because more energy is required to transform a liquid into steam. For this reason, as steam touches the skin, much more energy is transferred, causing burns.

[RobertXu_2J]

Steam has more energy than water, so the difference between the energy in steam and the energy of your skin is greater, and as such, when it comes into contact with you, it will transfer a correspondingly greater amount, leading to a more severe burn.

[Jesse H 2L]

Steam has way more energy than liquid as a result of the energy required to vaporize liquid, and as a result, the phase change releases more energy onto your skin in the form of heat and burns more

[Juana Abana 1G]

Steam causes severe burns since it experiences a phase change and releases a big amount of heat when it comes into contact with skin

[Trent Yamamoto 2J]

Unlike boiling water, steam experiences a phase change when it comes into contact with skin and thus releases a larger amount of heat that causes severe burns.