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A SCIENCE NOTE

A burn from steam is generally more severe than a burn from boiling water because of the additional energy stored in steam as latent heat—a concept rooted in thermodynamics and phase changes.

Here’s a breakdown of the physics:

Boiling water at 100 °C (212 °F) contains sensible heat—the energy required to raise its temperature from room temperature to 100 °C.

When this hot water contacts skin, it transfers that thermal energy directly to the tissue, causing a burn.

Steam is water in its gas phase, also at 100 °C, but it contains extra energy beyond just being hot.

This extra energy is called the latent heat of vaporization: the energy required to convert liquid water to steam at the same temperature.

For water, this is about 2260 kJ/kg, which is over five times the energy required to heat water from 0 °C to 100 °C.

When steam contacts your skin, it condenses back into liquid water—and in doing so, it releases all that latent heat into your skin.

So steam at 100 °C can deliver both:

The thermal energy from its temperature (same as boiling water), plus

The latent heat from condensing back to water.

This double dose of heat energy causes deeper tissue damage in a shorter time.

This concept of latent heat—the same reason steam burns are worse—has direct parallels in climate change, especially regarding extreme weather and the water cycle.

A warmer atmosphere holds exponentially more water vapor (about 7% more per 1°C of warming) due to the Clausius-Clapeyron relation.

Water vapor is itself a greenhouse gas, reinforcing warming (positive feedback).

As water evaporates from oceans, lakes, and soil, it stores latent heat—just like steam.

When this vapor condenses (in clouds, storms, hurricanes), it releases latent heat, supercharging storms by:

Intensifying updrafts in thunderstorms.

Powering hurricanes and cyclones.

Driving heavier rainfall and flash floods.

Just like condensing steam transfers a massive amount of energy to your skin, condensing atmospheric moisture transfers massive energy to the atmosphere.

This leads to more violent weather, akin to the difference between being splashed by boiling water and burned by steam.

Hurricanes: Stronger and wetter due to latent heat release and increased water vapor.

Atmospheric Rivers: Carry more moisture, dumping extreme rainfall.

Heatwaves + Humidity: Higher latent heat content makes nights hotter and reduces cooling.

Latent heat acts like hidden energy in the climate system—just as it makes steam burns worse, it makes storms and extreme weather more powerful in a warming world.