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Q. Steam burns are more serious in comparison to those caused from boiling water because

Thermal Properties of Matter

Solution:

For water, the latent heat of fusion and vaporisation are $L_{F}=3.33 \times 10^{5} \,J \,kg ^{-1}$
and $L_{V}=22.6 \times 10^{5} \,J \,kg ^{-1}$ , respectively,
i.e. $3.33 \times 10^{5} \,J$ of heat is needed to melt $1 \,kg$ of ice at $0^{\circ}\,C$
and $22.6 \times 10^{5} \,J$ of heat is needed to convert $1\, kg$ of water to steam at $100^{\circ} \,C$.
So, steam at $100^{\circ} C$ carries $22.6 \times 10^{5} \,J\,kg ^{-1}$ more heat than water at $100^{\circ} C$.
This is why burns from steam are usually more serious than those from boiling water.