Question

What produces more severe burns, boiling water or steam?

Answer 1

Hint: More severe burns produced by which possess high energy. You can check which has higher energy, boiling water or steam? The latent heat of vapourization of water is about 2260 J/Kg which is equal to 40.8 kJ/mol.

Complete step by step solution:
We know that both steam and boiling water, the temperature is around 100 degree Celsius. Even though the temperature is almost the same, steam causes severe burns. This is because steam has more energy than boiling water. Steam possesses the additional latent heat of vapourization. So, whenever steam falls on skin and condenses to produce water it gives out $\text{22}\text{.5 x 1}{{\text{0}}^{-5}}\text{J/Kg}$ more heat than boiling water at the same temperature. Therefore, steam produces more severe burns than boiling water. Steam possesses more energy than boiling water. Therefore, burns produced by steam are more severe than produced by boiling water.

Additional Information:
-Latent heat is defined as the heat or energy that is absorbed or released during a phase change of a substance. It could either be from a gas to a liquid or liquid to solid and vice versa. Latent heat is related to a heat property called enthalpy.
-Latent heat of vaporization is a physical property of a substance. When a material in liquid state is given energy, it changes its phase from liquid to vapour without change in temperature, the energy absorbed in the process is called latent heat of vapourization. The latent heat of vapourization of water is about 2260 J/Kg which is equal to 40.8 kJ/mol.

Note: The severe burn produced by the steam is not dependent on the temperature. You may write it is due to temperature difference. But the energy possessed by the steam is higher than boiling water.