A person’s skin is more severely burnt when put in contact with 1g of steam at 100°C than when put in contact with 1g of water at 100°C. Explain.

Question

Philoid · Accepted Answer

Steam carries with it the heat of vaporization of the water.

At the same temperature, steam and boiling water don’t contain the same amount of energy.

The internal energy of Steam at 100 ^oC is greater than boiling water at same temperature.

Hence steam burns more severely than water even though both are at same temperature.