Steam burns

[Clarice Chui 2C]

Why, conceptually, does steam cause severe burns?

[Sidharth D 1E]

Steam has more energy than boiling water does (40.7 kJ vs 5 kJ). So when the steam hits your skin you are immediately feeling 40.5 KJ of heat rather than 5KJ. Steam also absorbs heat so it will also increase in temperature.

[205007651]

It is because of latent heat of vaporization, so steam has a lot more heat energy, so much it makes more severe burns than boiling water does.

[504939134]

Steam releases more energy as opposed to boiling water, the steam releases about 40 kJ of energy.

[sbeall_1C]

If you look at a phase change graph, you will see that the change between liquid and gas is represented by a straight line in which heat is increasing but the substance has not yet changed phases. Therefore, steam holds a greater temperature.

[Bryan Chen 1H]

steam has more energy than boiling water at the same temp

[Joowon Seo 3A]

Because of the energy to convert boiling water to steam is a lot. So when steam condenses on your skin, all the energy expelled to form the bonds between water will get sent to your skin causing extreme burns.

[Anushka Chauhan2B]

The stem releases more energy than boiling water

[205389184]

Since steam releases a lot more energy in comparison to regular boiling water, the burn that the steam inflicts is much more severe than that of the boiling water.